Spectrum - Volume 17 Issue 15 December 8, 1994 - Obituary: Harold N. Hoback

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Obituary: Harold N. Hoback

Spectrum Volume 17 Issue 15 - December 8, 1994

Virginia Tech and the Corps of Cadets lost a friend and ardent supporter when Harold N. Hoback, president of Virginia Tech Corps of Cadets Alumni Inc. and of the Hotel Roanoke Foundation, died December 1.

When Hoback received the university's Alumni Distinguished Service Award in 1993, he credited the school and the Corps for his success in business, with the Air Force, and in community affairs. "Because of Virginia Tech and the Corps of Cadets, I've had two parallel careers," he said. Aside from being senior vice president of Chaney, Thomas, Stephenson and Hill, Inc. insurance agency, he was a colonel in the Air Force Reserve and worked for 10 years with the Air Force Academy as the western Virginia regional recruiter.

Hoback, who was a Roanoke native, graduated from Tech in 1953 with a degree in agricultural economics. While at Tech, he was a member of the track team, the Arnold Air Society, and Alpha Zeta fraternity.

After college, Hoback also devoted himself to the development of the Roanoke Valley. He was a past director of the Roanoke Valley Chamber of Commerce and the Virginia Retail Merchants Association.

Hoback's devotion to the university was legendary. In addition to his positions with the hotel foundation and the VTCCA, he was a charter member of the Ut Prosim Society, and he served on the board of directors of the Virginia Tech Foundation and the Virginia Tech Alumni Association. He served as the national chairman for the Virginia Tech Campaign for Excellence regional campaign committee. Because of his love for Tech and for the Air Force, he set up an endowed scholarship for Air Force ROTC students.