Patrick S. Hobin

1938 - 2025

Patrick S. Hobin
03/16/1938 - 10/30/2025
Patrick Salmon Hobin died of leukemia on October 30, 2025, at his home in Corte Madera, California, with his daughters Katie and Emily present. He was 87. His family and friends will remember his integrity and loyalty, his respect and care for others, his intelligence, curiosity, and practical planning, and his warm humor and the twinkle in his eye.
Pat was born and raised in Stockton, California, to a family with deep historical ties to San Joaquin County. He graduated as a Distinguished Military Graduate from the University of California, Berkeley in 1959 and spent nearly three years as a US Army Infantry and Intelligence officer at various posts in the United States and in Germany after construction of the Berlin Wall. At Cal, he joined Delta Upsilon fraternity and toured Japan in June 1957 with the Men's Glee Club under the direction of Robert Commanday, later the music critic for the San Francisco Chronicle and a lifelong friend. After graduating from law school at Boalt Hall, the University of California School of Law, Berkeley, in 1965, where he was one of six Senior Editors of the California Law Review, he practiced law for 12 years with the San Francisco law firm of Pillsbury, Madison & Sutro, where he became a partner. For more than two years, he lived with his family and worked in Brussels, Belgium. He then was Vice President & General Counsel of Chevron USA Inc. for 22 years, with offices in San Francisco and Houston, where he lived for eight years. He was a member of the State Bar of California for over 50 years, the State Bar of Texas, and the Bar of the Supreme Court of the United States.
Wherever he lived, Pat contributed to the community. In San Francisco he served as a Trustee of the Katherine Delmar Burke School and a longtime director and officer of the San Francisco Planning and Urban Research Association. In Houston he joined the Executives Association of Houston and the Association of Texas General Counsel. In Stockton, to which he returned in 2001 in retirement, he was a director of the Atherton Cove Homeowners Association and a director and officer of the Stockton Golf & Country Club, The Haggin Museum, and the Stockton Symphony. And, finally, in Marin County, where he lived out his life, he joined Hillside Church and supported the Marin Symphony and Marin Humane Society. He was a proud former member of the Grandfathers Club of Stockton and The Olympic Club of San Francisco and greatly enjoyed his longtime membership in The Bohemian Club in San Francisco and in the Dragon Camp at the Bohemian Grove. His golfing activities brought him memberships in the Royal Waterloo Golf Club in Belgium, Orinda Country Club, Silverado Country Club, Braeburn Country Club in Houston and, finally, the Stockton Golf & Country Club, where he originally learned to play at age 8.
Having begun listening to Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts at age 5 and studying piano beginning at age 6, his entire life was consumed with classical music, especially opera. Watching Neil Armstrong walk on the moon in 1969 spurred him into becoming a pilot, including commercial pilot training as part of the GI Bill. Having lived and worked in Europe twice, he was a confirmed Europhile and obsessed with international football (soccer) - he twice traveled to England to see matches and, especially in his later years, spent hours watching matches on TV.
Words were important to Pat, as a vehicle for clarifying thoughts and then expressing them clearly. So he was content with his life's work as a lawyer. Early in his adult life, he learned of Paul Robeson, a scholar, athlete, lawyer, musician, and actor. He viewed Robeson as a man of the highest integrity and honor and always sought to model those qualities. While he enjoyed moments of solitude, probably listening to classical music or reading, daily interactions with people energized him, and he valued friendships. But his family was the most important thing to him and watching grandchildren in sports and on stages, head off to college or just grow as persons filled him with joy.
He was preceded in death by his parents Bernita Salmon Hobin and William John Hobin, his former wife Rosemary Ames Hobin and his wife Cecilia Simonich Newcomer Hobin, his brother William Knight Hobin and his brothers-in-law Christopher Alan Greene and John Rodee Simonich. He is survived by his daughters Katie Porter (Jim) and Emily Janowsky (Steve) of Marin County, his step-daughters Molly Newcomer (Mike Adler) and Tora Newcomer, his former wife Judy McGrew and her family, eight grandchildren, his sister Barbara Hobin Greene, his sisters-in-law Joan Bailey Hobin and Patricia Simonich, and numerous nieces and nephews.
The family will gather privately for a celebration of his life. Those wishing to make a memorial contribution are invited to donate to Marin Humane Society or Marin Symphony.