Robert J Hogan

1933 - 2021
Actor and native New Yorker Robert Hogan, whose career spanned six decades, died at his home on the coast of Maine on May 27, 2021. He played everything from a helicopter pilot on M*A*S*H to a judge on Law & Order to a Marine in the original Broadway cast of Aaron Sorkin's A Few Good Men. The cause of death was complications from pneumonia. He was 87-years-old.

Born in Jamaica, Queens, the youngest of three children, Bob's childhood apartment was mere feet away from the Jamaica Avenue El, or Elevated Train. His was a childhood of rattled dishes on the dinner table as the El roared past. A gifted athlete, Bob played basketball for St. Francis Preparatory School before joining the army to serve in Korea. After his honorable discharge, Bob returned to New York to study engineering at NYU. After the first semester, however, an astute professor suggested he take an aptitude test to determine if engineering was really the best fit for the gregarious young man. The test results produced two words: The arts. As Bob would say, "That's when I gave acting a try." He was accepted into New York's prestigious American Academy of Dramatic Arts shortly thereafter.

In California and New York, Bob appeared in more than 100 primetime shows as well as nearly every daytime drama on the air. Off and on Broadway, as well as countless regional theaters, he performed in plays by Shakespeare, Chekhov, O'Neill and many others, winning the Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance as famed attorney Clarence Darrow in the real-life drama about the shocking Leopold and Loeb murder trial, Never the Sinner.

Despite a Vascular Alzheimer's diagnosis in 2013, Bob was determined to successfully LIVE with his illness. With support from his wife, novelist Mary Hogan, and multiple resources from organizations like DOROT in New York City, the Alzheimer's Association and others, he was able to work and thrive many years after his diagnosis. No small feat for an actor who memorized lines for a living.

Bob is survived by his wife of 38 years, Mary Hogan, three children from a previous marriage to fine artist, Shannon Hogan: Chris, Stephen, and Jud-all living in Southern California-and two grandchildren Susanna and Liam. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations made to the two not-for-profit organizations that gave Bob a fulfilling later life: DOROT in New York City and the Alzheimer's Association.