Oscar Allen Hoffman

Hoffman, Oscar Allen
Feb. 4, 1920 - April 10, 2010

Dr. Oscar Allen Hoffman, 90, died peacefully in his sleep Saturday, April 10, 2010, in Ellicott City, Md. He was a native of Newark and Livingston, N.J., and held a Ph.D. in physical chemistry from Stanford University, a M.S. from Syracuse University and a B.A. from Drew University. He spent six years at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.) before beginning a long career in private business, first with American Machine and Foundry (A.M.F.), and from 1958 to his retirement in 1985 for the Champion International Corp of Stamford, Conn., in their Hamilton, Ohio, New York City and Stamford, Conn., offices.
At M.I.T., Dr. Hoffman was attached to the U.S. Navy's Operations Evaluation Group on the staff of the chief of naval operations. He then moved to the A.M.F. Mechanics Research Lab in Greenwich, Conn., with responsibility for reliability engineering for the Titan I.C.B.M. underground silo launcher, and as advisor to the Turkish Army General Staff in Ankara. At Champion, Dr. Hoffman held numerous posts, including vice president of material management and vice president of the Moscow Camden & San Augustine Railroad. Dr. Hoffman was appointed commission of finance for the city of Stamford for four years from 1977 to 1981.
Dr. Hoffman relocated to Sarasota in 1985, where he resided for 20 years, and pursued his passion for U.S. history. He was proud to learn in the process of writing a family history that he was a direct descendent of Henry Melchior Muhlenberg, Patriarch of the Lutheran Church in America. He was the great-great-grandson of G. Henry Ernest Muhlenberg, pastor of Holy Trinity Church in Lancaster, Pa., first president of Franklin College and a botanist whose works included Catalogus Plantarum Americae Septentrionalis (1813) and Descriptio Uberior Graminum et Plantarum Calamariarum Americae Septentrionalis Indiginarum et Cicurum (1817). Two of Henry Ernest's brothers were also prominent figures in early American history -- Continental Army general and U.S. Senator (Pa.) Peter Gabriel Muhlenberg and Fredrick A. C. Muhlenberg, speaker of the house (Pa.) in the 1st and 3rd Congress.
Dr. Hoffman is survived by sons Peter M. Hoffman of Los Angeles and New Orleans and Jared M. Hoffman of Ellicott City and their wives Susan and Sonia; older brother Wilber Hoffman (92) and his wife, Louise, of Livingston, N.J.; five grandchildren (Kate, Cassia, Sara, Adela and Oscar); a nephew, Gary Sykes; nieces Janice Woodruff, Lynn Sykes and Gail Sykes; and a great-niece, Rusha Ann Woodruff. His wife of 55 years, Geri McReynolds, passed away two years ago on Easter Sunday.
Memorial contributions may be made to Dr. Hoffman's preferred charity, The Southern Poverty Law Center. Online condolences may be left for the family at www.slackfuneralhome.com.