Robert Kenneth Hoffman (July 18, 1947 – August 20, 2006) was an American businessman and philanthropist, most notable for co-founding the influential

humor Humour (English in the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth English) or humor (American English) is the tendency of experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humorism, humoral medicine of the ancient Gre ...

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'' National Lampoon''.

Life and career

Hoffman was born in

Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, and ...

, the son of Adelyn J. and Edmund M. Hoffman. He graduated from the

St. Mark's School of Texas The St. Mark's School of Texas is a nonsectarian preparatory day school for boys in grades 1–12 in Dallas, Texas, United States, accredited by the Independent Schools Association of the Southwest. History St. Mark's traces its origins to the T ...

in 1965. While a senior at

Harvard Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher le ...

, he was one of the three editors of ''The Harvard Lampoon'' who went on to co-found the ''National Lampoon'' in 1970. He served as its first

managing editor A managing editor (ME) is a senior member of a publication's management team. Typically, the managing editor reports directly to the editor-in-chief and oversees all aspects of the publication. United States In the United States, a managing edito ...

. In 1975 he sold his share and used the proceeds to buy a

Helen Frankenthaler Helen Frankenthaler (December 12, 1928 – December 27, 2011) was an American abstract expressionist painter. She was a major contributor to the history of postwar American painting. Having exhibited her work for over six decades (early 1950s u ...

painting. Hoffman left the ''National Lampoon'' to attend the

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

as a Baker Scholar, graduating in 1972. After graduation, he joined his father, Edmund, in the company that became the

Coca-Cola Coca-Cola, or Coke, is a carbonated soft drink manufactured by the Coca-Cola Company. Originally marketed as a temperance drink and intended as a patent medicine, it was invented in the late 19th century by John Stith Pemberton in Atlanta ...

Bottling Group (Southwest) Inc. The two helped build it into the country's fifth-largest Coca-Cola bottler before selling it in 1998. Hoffman chaired the Dallas Plan, a 30-year blueprint for reshaping the city of Dallas, which had been unanimously adopted by the City Council in December 1994. He also served as board chairman of the Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Society for a critical five years beginning in 1987. Hoffman and his wife, Marguerite, a former gallery director, amassed a world-renowned art collection that they donated in nearly its entirely to the

Dallas Museum of Art The Dallas Museum of Art (DMA) is an art museum located in the Arts District of downtown Dallas, Texas, along Woodall Rodgers Freeway between St. Paul and Harwood. In the 1970s, the museum moved from its previous location in Fair Park to the Art ...

in 2005. The 224 pieces were valued at a minimum of $150 million. That gift, coupled with the Hoffmans' role in spearheading additional bequests of 550 objects from friends Cindy and Howard Rachofsky and Deedie and Rusty Rose, put them on ''

Business Week ''Bloomberg Businessweek'', previously known as ''BusinessWeek'', is an American weekly business magazine published fifty times a year. Since 2009, the magazine is owned by New York City-based Bloomberg L.P. The magazine debuted in New York City ...

'' magazine's list of the top 50 philanthropists for 2005. Hoffman and his wife were awarded the 2006 TACA Neiman Marcus Silver Cup Award for their civic contributions, the first time that a couple won the award.

Family and death

Hoffman had three daughters: Hannah and Augusta, whose mother is Hoffman's second wife, Sally Timberlake Hoffman; and Kate. All three attended

The Hockaday School The Hockaday School is an independent, secular, college preparatory day school for girls located in Dallas, Texas, United States. The boarding school was for girls in grades 8–12 and the day school is from pre-kindergarten to grade 12. The ...

. He had one brother, Richard E. Hoffman, MD, who survived him and lives in Denver, Colorado. Hoffman died of

leukemia Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...

in Dallas at age 59. Because of his influential efforts at the St. Mark's School of Texas, a large donation was given in his name in order to build a new building.

References

External links

''The New York Times'' (Aug. 22, 2006): Obituary
2006 deaths Deaths from leukemia The Harvard Lampoon alumni St. Mark's School (Texas) alumni Deaths from cancer in Texas 1947 births 20th-century American businesspeople Harvard Business School alumni {{US-business-bio-1940s-stub

Life and career

Family and death

See also

References

External links