February 7, 2005

NORFOLK—Henry Clay Hofheimer II, whose pioneering spirit helped give birth to Eastern Virginia Medical School, died Sunday, February 6, 2005, at the age of 98.

Mr. Hofheimer, a native and life-long resident of Norfolk, was a leading philanthropist and community leader in the effort to advance economic development and quality of life of Hampton Roads in the decades after World War II.

Chief among his accomplishments was the establishment and development of Eastern Virginia Medical School, founded in 1973.

"The medical school has been the most important thing in my life," Mr. Hofheimer told an interviewer in 1993. "It has done more good for more people than anything I know of."

A public remembrance service will be held at Eastern Virginia Medical School at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, February 9, in Lewis Hall, 700 W. Olney Avenue, Norfolk.

Mr. Hofheimer was a leading force behind the first fundraising campaign that established Eastern Virginia Medical School, and he was the first Chairman and President of the EVMS Foundation, the school's fundraising arm.

"Eastern Virginia Medical School is a monument to Henry Clay's tenacity, willpower, and sheer force of personality," said Vincent J. Mastracco Jr., a member of the EVMS Foundation Board of Trustees and the foundation's Vice President for Investments. "For generations to come, this community will be the beneficiary of his marvelous largesse."

Mr. Hofheimer believed that this community should have a medical school, and then worked tirelessly to make that vision real," said EVMS President Dr. J. Sumner Bell. "Through the patients we care for, the students we teach, and the research we conduct, EVMS is a living testament to Mr. Hofheimer's vision and leadership."

In addition to his philanthropic interests, Mr. Hofheimer was one of the region's most successful business leaders and investors. He remained active in business and community activities until very late in life. He could often be seen walking between downtown Norfolk and his home in Ghent, usually accompanied by one of his beloved dogs.

In the late 1960s, when a medical school in Hampton Roads was essentially just a dream, Mr. Hofheimer and 34 other business, civic and political leaders took it upon themselves to make that dream a reality. They formed a committee whose mission was to raise the dollars that would make a medical school possible. Launched in 1970, the effort to raise $15 million in three years was at the time the most ambitious fundraising effort ever undertaken in Hampton Roads.

In the weeks, months and years that followed, Mr. Hofheimer dedicated himself to making the school a reality, through his own generous support and tireless fundraising.

One day, Mr. Hofheimer was walking on the beach and recognized a man whose picture he'd seen in a magazine. It was the late Sydney Lewis of Richmond, the founder of Best Products, then one of Virginia's leading companies.

"I didn't know him from Adam," Mr. Hofheimer recalled years later. "But I had read where he gave $9 million to his alma mater. I decided to meet him."

Mr. Hofheimer introduced himself on the beach, and a friendship developed. In the fall of 1972, Mr. Hofheimer encouraged Mr. Lewis to make a $1.5 challenge grant to help the first campaign for EVMS reach its goal of raising $15 million by December 31, 1972.

Understanding the value that a dramatic gesture brings to fundraising campaigns, Mr. Hofheimer then surprised the fundraising committee by bringing to the campaign's final fundraising meeting in December 1972 a $1 million check from the Andrew Mellon Foundation, a gift he had quietly solicited as the result of his friendship with the Mellon family.

The community's response to the Lewis challenge grant, followed by the unexpected support of the Mellon Foundation, spurred that first campaign to exceed its $15 million goal, raising $17.6 million by the time 1972 came to a close. As a result, EVMS gained its first accreditation and accepted its first students in 1973.

Mr. Hofheimer's remembrance service will be held in Lewis Hall, the building made possible by that first campaign that was named in honor of Mr. Lewis and his wife Frances.

For the next twenty years, Mr. Hofheimer continued to lead the fundraising efforts for EVMS as chairman and president of the EVMS Foundation. The medical school's second building, Hofheimer Hall, was named in honor of Mr. Hofheimer and his late wife, Elise.

In later years, Mr. Hofheimer continued to serve as an emeritus member of the Board of Trustees, and as honorary co-chair of the EVMS Campaign for the Next Century in the late 1990s. Mr. Hofheimer's grandson, Ted Kaufman, is a member of the EVMS Foundation's Development Committee.

The medical school awarded Mr. Hofheimer an honorary degree in 1985 in recognition of his vast contributions to the institution.

EVMS was not alone in recognizing his achievements.

Three U.S. presidents honored Hofheimer's contributions. President Lyndon Johnson appointed him metro chairman of the National Alliance of Businessmen; President Richard Nixon re-appointed him; and President Dwight Eisenhower chose him as a member of the National Cultural Center.

He was First Citizen of Norfolk in 1958; received the Distinguished Service Award of the Virginia State Chamber of Commerce in 1964; and the Navy Distinguished Public Service Award in 1983.

In 1987, the National Defense University Foundation established the Henry Clay Hofheimer Chair in Military Professionalism at the Armed Forces Staff College in Norfolk. This was the first chair approved by the foundation, which was established to serve the national War College and the Industrial College of the Armed Forces in Washington, D.C., and the Staff College in Norfolk -- the three major professional military colleges that compose the university system operated by the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

For more information, contact:

Doug Gardner, Director of News and Publications
EVMS Office of Institutional Advancement
(757) 446-6070 - This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it