Robert Hoen

Robert "Robin" Martin Hoen, 79, died peacefully on Tuesday, September 13, at his home in Grantham, New Hampshire, after a long illness. Born in Montreal, Robin was the son of the late Dr. Thomas Irving Hoen, a pioneering neurosurgeon, and Nancy Stocking Hoen. He attended the Lawrence Country Day School in Hewlett, New York, and Kent School in Kent, Connecticut, before going on to Le Rosey in Rolle, Switzerland, for his last two years of high school. He graduated from Harvard College in 1959 with a degree in History and then settled in New York City. He became a Vice President in the International Department of the Chase Manhattan Bank with responsibility for operations in dozens of countries throughout the world. In 1980, he moved with his family to West Hartford, Connecticut, where he became Chief Operating Officer at Equator Bank, which served the countries of sub-Saharan Africa. In 1988, he was named Executive Director of the United States South Africa Leadership Exchange Program (USSALEP) in Washington, DC, a non-profit dedicated to the support of democratic institutions in pre- and post-Apartheid South Africa. Robin was a member of the Fly Club at Harvard, the Knickerbocker Club in New York, the Rockaway Hunting and Lawrence Beach Clubs in Nassau County, the Hartford Golf Club, and the Adirondack League Club. He served on the boards of the Africa-America Institute in Washington, the Hartford Stage Company, the New England Cognitive Center, and was a Director of the Laurentian Spring Water Company in Montreal.


A world traveler who spoke three languages fluently, Robin was an avid reader, a talented orator, and a lively storyteller. He was known for his good-natured wit, boundless curiosity, and love of the natural world-particularly his garden and his many avian friends. He was a keen sportsman who spent many of his happiest moments swimming and boating in the waters of Lake Manitou in Quebec and Lake Honnedaga at the Hoen family camp in the Adirondacks.


Robin is survived by a loving family who will deeply miss his boundless optimism and his unending support of them. He leaves his wife Caroline (née Henwood); their children Nicholas, Oliver, and Victoria; his daughter-in-law Annie; his grandchildren Alice and Eli; his brother Jonathan; and his siblings in-law Tamara Hoen, Maxine Hoen, James and Susan Henwood, and Robert Henwood. A future memorial event is being planned.