When Dick Hoge drove his wife and children on a vacation trip through the South back in the late 1960s, he wasn't just watching the road. He kept an eye out for opportunity.
And he found it in Atlanta.
He was a skilled carpenter, but the market for newly built homes had dried up in his hometown of Cleveland. He could see Atlanta was a far more inviting environment.
Months later, he returned, bought a lot in the Derby Hills subdivision of Sandy Springs and began constructing a home for his family.
As his house took shape, he put up a sign in the front yard identifying himself as the builder. His son, Marcus Hoge of Duluth, said eight families were so impressed with his father's workmanship that they engaged him to build their houses in Derby Hills.
As a consequence, Dick Hoge found himself in business, not just as a carpenter but as a contractor.
He founded a company called the Marcus Corp. and concentrated at first on building new homes. However, a spike in home loan interest rates during the mid-1970s caused a homebuilding slump. Adroitly, he transitioned to home remodeling, which has been his company's principal focus ever since, mostly in Buckhead, Sandy Springs and Dunwoody.
"All of Dad's business came from referrals, new clients who had heard of Dad's company from our previous clients. He never had to advertise," said Marcus Hoge, who became president of the company after his father retired in 2000.
Architect Chip Murrah of Sandy Springs said it was a pleasure to work with Mr. Hoge. "Dick was always looking for better ways to do things at less cost while still maintaining high standards," he said. "He'd walk a building site, picking up wood scraps and bent nails with the hope of finding some use for them."
Mr. Hoge had an eye for talent, said Sue Kalkstein of Atlanta, a longtime Marcus Corp. designer, and picked good plumbers, electricians and carpenters for his projects. She said she appreciated that he gave her a chance at a time when there were few women in their industry.
Richard Joseph Hoge, 73, of Cumming died Thursday at the Veranda at Hembree Pointe senior care facility, Roswell, of Lewy body dementia. His funeral will be at 4 p.m. Sunday at Crowell Brothers Peachtree Chapel Funeral Home, with burial to follow at Peachtree Memorial Park.
In 1980 Mr. Hoge fulfilled a longtime yearning to go into retail like his father, who had operated a butcher shop in Cleveland. He and his wife, Joyce Hoge, opened the Ocee Hardware Store in north Fulton and stocked it, she said, "with all the little items you wouldn't necessarily find in the big-box stores."
He continued to concentrate on his contracting business while she ran the hardware store.
"For him," she said, "Ocee Hardware was like a toy store for grown-ups. Most days after he finished at his office, he'd come to the store and pore over catalogs looking for things he knew from his experience as a contractor were hard to find."
The Hoges closed their store in 2000 when road widening at the intersection of Ga. 120 and Jones Bridge Road took over most the property they were leasing.
Travel was a favorite pastime for Mr. Hoge, said another son, Chad Hoge of Atlanta. "When my sisters and brothers were kids, Dad and Mom took us each summer on trips across America in our motor home," he said.
He also loved boating and fishing. For a long time, the Hoges had a house on Lake Burton, where the family went most weekends. In 1999 they sold their residence in Johns Creek and moved to a house on Lake Lanier.
Also surviving are two daughters, Allise Hoge of Dawsonville and Mignon Strohl of Cumming; another son, Richard J. Hoge III of Dawsonville; and seven grandchildren.
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