Adelyn Jean Hoffman

Adelyn Jean Hoffman, a long-time Dallas homemaker and philanthropist, passed away peacefully in her sleep on September 29, 2012 at her home. She was 87 years old and had been married to Edmund M. Hoffman for 61 years. Mrs. Hoffman was devoted to her family and had two sons, Richard Edmund, a physician who resides in Denver, and Robert Kenneth, who was a business partner of Edmund and a civic leader and philanthropist.

Adelyn (“Adgie”) was born in Victoria, Texas on October 1, 1924 to Hilda Kleinsmith Nussbaum and Hervin Wolf Nussbaum. She graduated with a bachelor’s degree from the University of Texas in Austin in 1944 and was a member of Alpha Epsilon Phi sorority. While her husband served in the south Pacific for the United States Navy during World War II, she worked first for the U.S. Bureau of Aeronautics in San Diego and later as a teacher in San Antonio, Texas. Adelyn and Edmund moved to Dallas in 1953. She enjoyed collecting antique furniture and art and playing cards with her numerous friends.

Her civic activities and charitable contributions were numerous. Along with her husband, in 1999 Mrs. Hoffman received the Charles Cameron Sprague Community Service Award, and together they established at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center the Adelyn and Edmund M. Hoffman Distinguished Chair in Medical Science, the Hoffman Endowment for Excellence in Osteoporosis Research, and the Hoffman Family Center for Genetics and Epidemiology. She was a strong supporter of Goodwill Industries of Dallas for many years, and Goodwill’s main campus was named for Adelyn and Edmund Hoffman, to honor their generous contributions. She was a volunteer for the Dallas Mental Health Society and served on its board of directors. She worked for a number of years as a volunteer for the Dallas Museum of Art and financially supported the Hoffman Family Senior Curator of Contemporary Art at the Museum. There were numerous other organizations she contributed to, including the Dallas Symphony, St. Mark’s School of Texas, the Dallas Arboretum, East Dallas Community Schools, the University of Texas at Dallas Center for Brain Health, Planned Parenthood of Greater Texas, the Stark Center at the University of Texas at Austin, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, and the Jewish Home for the Aged. She was a member of Temple Emanu-El synagogue.

She is survived by her son, Dr. Richard E. Hoffman of Denver; daughters-in-law Molly Bush-Hoffman and Marguerite S. Hoffman; granddaughters Charlotte, Hannah, Augusta, and Kate Hoffman; brother-in-laws Henry R. Hoffman, Jr. and wife, Jean, of Dallas and Dr. Joseph F. Hoffman and wife, Elena, of New Haven, CT; cousins Stanley L. Crossman and Derek Kahn of Dallas; and nieces Patty McNichols and Jill Tiernan. The family wishes to express its gratitude to her assistants, Sandy Govea and Billye Mason, and to her nurses, Barbara Gilbert, Valerie Foreman-Lee, Martina Korlie Grant, and Doris Foreman, for their wonderful care and devotion.

A private family graveside will be held at Temple Emanu-El Cemetery at a later date. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to either Goodwill Industries of Dallas, 3020 Westmorland Road, Dallas, TX 75212 or the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Foundation, 3963 Maple Avenue, Suite 100, Dallas, Texas 75219.