Alumni Profile: Brian Polhill '89

Coming to terms with a kidnapping

Brian and his wife, Kathy Anderson, at the restaurant he co-owns with Jeff Gardner . . . and playing with his son, Graham

At noon on the day before Super Bowl 1987 -- Saturday, Jan. 24 -- Brian Polhill and his roommate, Jeff Gardner '89, were caught off guard by a TV news flash: Polhill's father, Robert, a Beirut University College professor, had been taken hostage along with three fellow faculty members (two Americans and an Indian U.S. resident) by the Islamic Jihad for the Liberation of Palestine, later determined to be agents of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

That moment changed Brian's life; the event not only held his father hostage, but held his and his family's hearts and minds hostage, as well.

"When it happened, it felt weird, but felt inevitable," said Brian. "He used to tell us he was safe, that they rarely left the campus. We'd get intermittent letters, but he didn't write frequently, because he didn't want to call attention to the fact that he had family in the U.S."

According to the UPI report filed at the time, the hostage takers had threatened to kill a hostage that day unless West Germany freed an Arab wanted for the 1985 hijacking of TWA Flight 847. Eventually the death-threat ultimatums were dropped in favor of demands for the release of 400 Arabs held by Israel. Negotiations regarding these hostages and others held in Lebanon -- including Terry Anderson, who came to be known as the longest-held hostage -- continued for many years.

During those years, Brian read six or seven newspapers a day and three or four news magazines a week. "I talked to the State Department a lot while I was a student," he said. "I researched the whole situation as much as possible. After a while I became boring; I was obsessed." A low point for Brian came when he saw a photo of his father on the cover of U.S. News & World Report with two guns pointing to either side of his head. "It was terrible," he said. "I was 19."

The son of a hostage whose drama was being played out on the world's stage, Brian began receiving countless phone calls and visits from the media. "We heard tons of rumors about my dad. There were reports that he was shot climbing over a fence trying to escape, that he was smuggled out of the country wearing a dress -- all kinds of ridiculous things," said Brian, who started keeping a rumor chart. "And every time there was a rumor, I'd get a call. Local reporters with microphones would chase me across campus. The dorms at the time were wide open; they could just walk in." Brian's dorm mates came to be a vital support system for him. "Jeff, who was there when I got the call, kept me sane," he said. "Other dorm mates answered my phones, guarded my door and kicked press people out. I got a lot of group support -- it was very familial."

A literature and rhetoric major, Brian was drawn to the Theatre Department, and found respite there as well. "They knew nothing about international politics and could care less. They didn't want to talk about hostages," he said.

On April 22, 1990, Robert Polhill was released and returned to the United States. He had throat cancer, a disease he never fully defeated although he lived until July 1, 1999. He always wanted to write his story, but never did, said Brian. Now, Brian is writing a book about his father's kidnapping and imprisonment; about the mastermind behind the plot, Imad Fayez Mughniyeh, who is on the FBI's "Most Wanted" list; and about his own relationship with his father, which was often difficult and strained. Ten years working as a researcher for the Today Show has facilitated his research for the book.

Meanwhile, Brian and his former roommate, Gardner, have remained close friends, and recently went into partnership together: They co-own a restaurant in New Jersey that serves Texas-style barbecue.