Hoffman, Peter
HOFFMAN, Peter
Peter Stroh Hoffman was born on September 6, 1930 in Indianapolis, IN.
A significant part of his youth was spent in Birmingham, Michigan. There he enjoyed sailing in the summer, skiing in the winter, a myriad of all other sports and was a Boy Scout. In fact he was an Eagle Scout.
High school had him attend the Fountain Valley School in Colorado Springs.
From there he went to Dartmouth College where he lettered on the Crew team and found time for hockey and more skiing. He enlisted in the Korean conflict and was a second lieutenant with the Rangers where he was honored by receiving the Bronze Star. He came back to New Hampshire after the war to marry Dorothy Hayes from Detroit and complete his education.
Pete's professional life was as heralded as how he served in Korea. He and his partner Philip McHugh founded McHugh & Hoffman and were the very first audience research firm to work with local and network TV stations on how to improve their news ratings. They were pioneers and the very first company to provide this service. It would be an occupation that helped news operations improve how they served their communities. It also launched several other competing companies that found it was a good business space.
Besides living the life of a Television News consultant which involved an intense weekly travel schedule, Pete found time to relax and recharge with his weekend passion, sailing. Pete and his wife Dot enjoyed decades of racing and cruising with their many sailing friends from the Great Lakes to the Chesapeake. In Maryland they were members of the Gibson Island Y.C. where he served as Commodore. They were also members of the Cruising Club Of America. Many nautical miles, and several boats later his love affair with the water and boats remained one of his strong passions of life.
Pete and Dot were married for 68 years. A marriage filled with adventure, travel, enjoyment of life, each other, and their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. Pete was a great story teller and loved a good story. He had an infectious laugh. He was a man of honor, duty, and ethics. He loved sports cars (and he had a lot of them), a good Martini, grilling very big and cooked slightly rare steaks, and being with his family. Which rated #1 above all the rest.
A scout, a scholar, soldier, entrepreneur, sailor, husband, father, grandfather, noble friend. Pete lived a life in full and all those that knew him knew a man of great substance and character.
