Philanthropist Robert K. Hoffman, one of three founders of the irreverent National Lampoon magazine, has died. He was 59.
Hoffman, a noted Dallas philanthropist, died Sunday at an area hospital. He had been suffering from leukemia since December, according to his family.
He was a co-founder and managing editor of the humorous National Lampoon, spawned from the Harvard Lampoon, created while he was a student at the university.
Hoffman graduated cum laude in 1970 and received an MBA from Harvard Business School.
The magazine spun off successful films, the best known being “Animal House.”
“National Lampoon never would have happened, and none of the things that came out of it would have happened, without Robert,” Henry Beard, one of the other co-founders of the magazine, said in Tuesday’s editions of The Dallas Morning News. “He had an exceptional pair of talents — he was extremely smart, and utterly fearless.”
The third founder, Doug Kenney, died in the early 1980s.
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
ROBERT HOFFMAN, 59
MIT gets the point for this especially important obit. From the wires:
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3 comments:
The dog you shoot, and you I shoot.
National Lampoon....
"Hello, I'm still dead"
The Rodriquez Brothers
Mrs. Agnew's Diary
Back in the early 1970's, I was stationed at a military hospital in Nurnberg, Germany. The National Lampoon was a must read amongst my buddies and myself. I saved all the issues to re-read them. When I returned to the states I gave them to my friends.
I was the secretary to the hospital commander, even though trained as a medic, I could type reasonably well.
The Colonel was lamenting all the drug busts in the hospital when the CID made their sweeps and how that reflected bad on him as a commander.
I suggested to the Colonel that since he knew (and because I was his secretary, so did I) when the CID would make their sweeps, all we had to do was make sure the hospital corpsmen's barracks were drug free.
And, since I lived in the barracks at that time, I would be willing to take responsibility to make certain that he would not be embarassed by his troops.
I would set up an amnesty box and let the troopers know there would be a drug and contraband sweep coming and to place all their contraband in the box and I would get rid of it.
The colonel thought it was an excellent idea. And, surprizingly, it worked. I would pass the word and the box would be quickly fill. The CID would search the barracks and, for the most part, it would be clean. At first, some guys were busted, but after a few raids, they realized how easy the box was to use. This was in the days of 4 marks for a buck.
After about the sixth raid and no busts, the colonel asked me what I did with all the contraband.
"I got rid of it, sir."
And read the National Lampoon. Those were the days.
I want to thank the National Lampoon Radio Hour for "Deterorotta," "The Art Rock Suite" and "The Immigrants:How Hillbillies Came To America." The last one mixes the Bicentenial Minute with "Hillbilly Heaven" by Tex Ritter (TEX RITTER!!!! AND THAT'S WHEN I WOKE UP!).
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