Frank W. Hoch

The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution announces with great sorrow
the death April 13, 2007 of Honorary Trustee and Honorary Member, Frank
W. Hoch, at his home in Irvington, NY.  

Frank and his wife, Honorary Trustee Lisina M. Hoch, became WHOI
Associates in 1983.  Frank was elected an Honorary Member of the
Corporation in 1991, and was elected Honorary Trustee in 1992.

Frank served on the Board’s first Campaign Committee from 1992 to 1996,
then on the Development Committee until 2000.  Along with Lisina,
he also became a member of the Access to the Sea (formerly Ships)
Committee in 2000, and a member of the Ocean Life Institute Committee
in 2003.  He was also a member of the Paul M. Fye Society.

Over the years, Frank and Lisina introduced countless new friends to
WHOI and helped to facilitate a wide variety of research by means of
generous and innovative philanthropy to, among others, the Ocean
Ventures Fund for graduate students, the Jason Project, the Doherty
Postdoc Scholarship fund, the Director’s Discretionary Fund, the
Scientific Staff Mentorship Program, the Charles D. Hollister Fund for
Innovative Research, and their own endowed fund for crucial early
career support of assistant scientists.  Most recently, they
provided a lead gift and issued a challenge, met just this year, to
fund the Tropical Research Initiative.  In recognition of their
tireless advocacy and creative efforts to stimulate private and
leveraged support for basic research, Frank and Lisina received the
Cecil H. Green Award in 2003.

Born in 1921, Frank was educated in Switzerland, receiving a Doctor of
Law degree from the University of Zurich in 1947.  During World
War II, he served as a Lieutenant of the Swiss Alpine Infantry. 
He spent most of his professional career with Brown Brothers Harriman
& Co., where he became a Partner.  In addition to WHOI, he
served on numerous boards, including the Smithsonian Institution,
Phelps Memorial Hospital, Exodus Transitional Community, Irvington
Presbyterian Church, Polly Hill Arboretum, American-Swiss Association,
and the American Council on Germany.  He was also an active member
of the Council on Foreign Relations, the Explorer’s Club of New York,
and the US Council for International Business.

Frank is survived by his wife, Honorary Trustee Lisina M. Hoch, sons
Steven (Member of the Corporation) and Roland, daughters Alix and
Daphne, and eleven grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at Irvington Presbyterian Church, 25
North Broadway, Irvington, NY, Saturday, April 28 at 11:00 a.m. 
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in his memory to
Exodus Transitional Community, New York; Phelps Memorial Hospital,
Sleepy Hollow, NY; or Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.