Alfred D. Hoch

HOCH, Alfred D. 75, of Lincoln, passed away peacefully Thursday, November 25, after a long illness. Born January 31, 1935, in Philadelphia, son of Alfred and Frieda (Huerfeld) Hoch. Proud graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Class of 1957, with a bachelor's of science degree in Mechanical Engineering. Al had national top-secret security clearance at the Draper Laboratory in Cambridge, where he worked on inertial navigation systems. Among other projects, Al worked on the Apollo project and aided in the design of the navigation system for the Polaris ballistic missile. He founded Quarterman Publications, a boutique publishing company that has provided generations of advanced collectors and curators with access to high-quality reprints of scarce definitive reference works in various collecting fields such as Colonial coins, medals, stamps, Civil War tokens, American political badges and ribbons, and early coins from various countries. Al was himself a dedicated and lifelong collector of coins, tokens, and ephemera and became an acknowledged authority on vintage posters and antique paper Americana in his later years. His immense knowledge and intellect earned the respect and admiration from collectors all over the world and he enjoyed this passion to the very end. Al recently received a lifetime achievement award from the American Numismatic Society for his scholarly contributions in the field of numismatics. He was also awarded the first George F. Kolbe medal for lifetime achievement, a distinction for excellence in numismatics awarded by the Numismatic Bibliomania Society. Al will be remembered as a gentle man with a quirky sense of humor, for his generosity to all those who knew him, for his love of chocolate, and above all for his selfless devotion to his children, which he considered his proudest achievement in life. Al is survived by three sons: Alan Hoch of Groton, David Hoch of Belmont, Jonathan Hoch and his wife Carey of Lincoln, and his daughter Carole Lee and her husband John de Jong of Weston. He also leaves seven grandchildren: Nick, Lily, and Emily Hoch of Groton, Jack and Sam de Jong of Weston, and Daniel and Matthew Hoch of Lincoln. Memorial service will be held in the springtime.