Born Dec. 31, 1934, in Cincinnati, Ohio, Hugh entered Princeton from Wyoming (Ohio) High School. At Princeton he majored in politics and was a member of Tiger Inn. Hugh played baseball and 150-pound football and was elected captain for his senior year. A contract member of the Naval ROTC, upon graduation he served for several years as a naval aviator.
After leaving the Navy he became a journalist and worked in Washington, D.C., for The Washington Post, and then for a newspaper in Dayton, Ohio. Settling in Michigan in 1975, he joined the Free Press as a writer and columnist covering public figures and politics. He was a champion of the environment and an opponent of the NRA. In 2001 Hugh retired from writing his column.
Hugh’s wife, Jan, died in 2018. He is survived by his son, Hugh C. McDiarmid Jr.; his daughter, Margaret McDiarmid Baxter; and five grandchildren.