Obituary of Gary K. Hoffman

Gary K. Hoffman, 67, of Leeds, spouse of Dara A. Johnson, unexpectedly passed away at home on Monday, November 7, 2016. Gary was born in Nürnberg, Germany on December 5, 1948. His father was the late Master Sergeant Kenneth Hoffman and his mother was the late Dagmara (Kunsteins) Monnier. In 1964 Gary's stepfather, Eugene Monnier, moved his family to Marblehead, MA where, in 1966, Gary graduated from Marblehead High School. Later he graduated from UMass, Amherst with a Bachelor of Science Degree in 1970. After months of backpacking through Europe and years of living in California, in 1979, Gary moved back to Western MA to be with Dara, “the love of his life" whom he'd met in college. They made their home in Leeds in 1985. Gary was employed for 20 years with Verizon as a telephone technician until his retirement in 2009. He had a special love for nature, the ocean, gardening, boating, birding, traveling and his beautiful Saluki Hounds. In addition to Dara, he is survived by a brother-in-law and sister-in-law, Dennis Johnson and Dr. Mirjam Schroen of Germany; a niece Kara Johnson and her husband Michael Fonseca of Cambridge, and a nephew Alexander Johnson of Somerville; a step-sister Jacqueline Olson and her husband Paul of FL. A family memorial service will be held at a later time. Dara has requested that memorial contributions to be made in Gary’s name to the Mass Audubon Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary, Division of Education, 127 Coombs Rd., Easthampton, MA 01027. If making donations online, please make sure to earmark for the Arcadia Sanctuary education fund. Please visit www.ccbfuneral.com for online obituary and memorial guestbook.