Dr. Thomas William Hoffer was born on May 31, 1938, in Toledo, Iowa, the son of Martin H. and Margaret K. (Plum) Hoffer. Hoffer attended Toledo High School, graduating in 1955. Later that year, he enrolled at the State University of Iowa, where he earned his B.A. in 1960. Following his college graduation, Hoffer briefly worked at WITI-TV, a Milwaukee, WI television station, from 1960 to 1961.
In 1961, Hoffer enrolled in Officer Candidate School in Newport, RI. Later year, he was stationed at the US Naval Base at Yokosuka Bay, Japan. Hoffer served on the USS Bon Homme Richard, nicknamed the "Bonnie Dick." On board, Hoffer served in the Communications Department from 1961 to 1963; he also became part of the newly re-structured US Naval Communications State at Yokosuka. He was promoted to Lieutenant (junior grade), served in the Pacific from 1961 until 1964, and retired from active duty in order to enroll at the University of Wisconsin, Madison (Hoffer remained in the Naval Reserves for several more years). His service during that time included an assignment in Vietnam. He received the Vietnam Service Medal and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign Medal, and was honorably discharged at the rank of Lieutenant Commander. Hoffer retired from active duty in 1964, but remained a member of the US Naval Reserve Program, assigned to the Ninth Naval District in Great Lakes, Illinois. He served two weeks of active duty in 1968 aboard the USS Wright, while still in graduate school at the University of Wisconsin, as a Radio-Television Officer and was eventually promoted to Lieutenant Commander and Supply Officer.
Hoffer attended the University of Wisconsin in 1964, where he earned a Masters Degree in Speech Communication in 1969. His M.A. thesis was "Norman Baker and American Broadcasting." Hoffer continued his doctoral studies at the University of Wisconsin, focusing on film and mass communication. He majored in Communication Arts, and minored in Journalism. Hoffer completed his doctorate in 1972. From 1972 until his retirement in 1996, Hoffer was a professor in the Department of Communication at Florida State University (FSU). He was particularly interested in mass media, photojournalism, and documentary film, and taught classes in documentary film making before the establishment of the FSU Film School. When he retired in 1996, he became the founding publisher of The Franklin Chronicle, a local newspaper distributed in Franklin, Gulf, and Wakulla counties. He died in Tallahassee on December 9, 2006.
From the guide to the Dr. Thomas William Hoffer Papers, 1920-2005, (Repository Unknown)
