Hoehn
CHARLOTTESVILLE, VIRGINIA – William Edwin Hoehn Jr., formerly of Franklin, passed away in the Center for Acute Hospice Care in Charlottesville, Virginia, on Aug. 21, 2021. He was 84 years old. Bill was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, where he lived with his parents, Bill and Ethel, and sister, Susan until he left for college at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) when he was 16. His misadventures at MIT resulted in two expulsions, the second one final. The turnaround in his life began when Bethany College in West Virginia took a chance and admitted him in 1957. He excelled there, graduated in three years, and continued his education at Northwestern University where he received a PhD in econometrics in 1964.
After a post-doctoral fellowship in the Netherlands, he joined the staff of the “think tank” Rand Corporation in Santa Monica, California. There for nearly 20 years, Bill used the analytic skills honed by his education in mathematical economics to become an expert on nuclear force development policy and strategy and nuclear arms control. His work was highly regarded by policymakers in both the executive and legislative branches of government, leading to former Sen. Sam Nunn (D-GA) sponsoring Bill and a Rand colleague to brief then-President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, on nuclear policy.
In 1982, President Reagan appointed Bill to a senior position in the Pentagon. There he managed the Secretary of Defense’s Emerging Technologies Initiative to enhance cooperation with our NATO allies on defense technologies. Bill led the Defense Department’s team in the negotiations with the Soviet Union to upgrade the “hot-line” communications system between Washington and Moscow, and he contributed to both theater and and strategic nuclear arms reduction negotiations.
Bill changed branches of government in 1984 when Sen. Nunn asked him to join the staff of the Senate Armed Services Committee. Sen. Nunn’s ascension to Ranking Minority Member on the Committee (and subsequently to chairman when the Democrats became the majority) gave Bill the opportunity to work directly for the public figure he most admired during his long career of service to his country. Until Sen. Nunn’s retirement in 1996, Bill worked on nuclear force modernization and other topics as a senior member of the Committee staff and advised Sen. Nunn on a wide range of defense and economic policy issues.
The common thread running through all Bill’s professional activities through the end of the Cold War was a passionate commitment to preventing nuclear conflict with the Soviet Union. One of his prized possessions was a piece of the Berlin Wall hacked out by a former East German soldier. It hung over Bill’s desk on a plaque engraved with words from Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers.”
Sen. Nunn’s retirement led Bill to a visiting professor position in the newly-christened Sam Nunn School of International Affairs at the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta. There Bill taught undergraduate courses on national security policy and led an effort to introduce doctoral students in science and engineering to opportunities for work in national security policy as part of their future careers. He continued his commitment to prevention of nuclear conflict in a joint effort by the Nunn School and the Nuclear Threat Initiative Foundation to develop strategies to help Russia peacefully and productively re-employ scientific and technical personnel who had worked in the Soviet nuclear weapons industry.
Three years after Bill and his wife Geneese moved to Atlanta, they bought a cabin in Franklin where they relocated in mid-2006 when Bill retired from Georgia Tech. Shortly after the move, they began cooking Wednesday lunch at the CareNet Soup Café with Bill as soup chef. During his seven years at Care Net, hundreds of folks in Macon County sampled his specialties—including his signature taco soup. In addition to being a favorite of Soup Café diners, Chef Bill and his taco soup were a feature for years at First Presbyterian Church’s “Souper Bowl of Caring” fundraisers for CareNet. Bill loved to share his recipes, and he loved to make soup for friends who were ill, or just needed an unexpected, smiling visitor bearing a container of soup.
During his 15 years in Franklin Bill supported the development of the Little Tennessee River Greenway, particularly the creation of Wesley’s Playground. He worked on his model railroad (donated to the Toy Museum of the Macon County Historical Society), gardened, fed the birds, and, to ward off the effects of the Alzheimers with which he was diagnosed in 2015, got serious about working out several times a week with trainers. (Thank you, Jennifer Stewart-Burnette and Tom Forkner.) The training program was part of the excellent family-based treatment and support Bill and Geneese received at the Waynesville satellite location of Memory Care. Earlier this year, Bill and Geneese moved to a retirement community near Charlottesville, Virginia, where they could be together nearer to family.
The family plans a celebration of Bill’s life in Franklin when Covid conditions permit.
Bill’s family — wife, Geneese Gottschalk; children Bill Hoehn III and Mary Hoehn (Tiffany Swanson, Matt Getman); grandchildren Margaret, Andrew, and Clementine; stepchildren Brent and Clark Baumbusch (Marianne Nore, Barbara Baumbusch); step-grandchildren London, Damien, Audrey and Case; and his friends everywhere will miss his smiling eyes, his kind and gentle ways, his spectacular Christmas light displays, his willingness and skill as a teacher, a patient explainer of complicated subjects, a mentor, and so very much more.
Contributions in Bill’s memory may be made to Macon County Care Network, 130 Bidwell St., Franklin, NC 28734 or Memory Care, 100 Far Horizons Lane, Asheville, NC 28803.