Robert Hoffmann knew right away when Mary (Shultz) walked into a fraternity house party with a group of four friends in 1978 that he and his friend had to meet them.

“We had a great weekend together so I invited her down for the next party weekend,” he says. When Mary and Robert didn’t talk after that weekend, he invited another girl to come the following weekend.
“They both showed up that next party weekend,” he says. “I was in the dog house, but she forgave me. We have been married 39 years with four children. Our family includes three engineers, a lawyer, a doctor, a Marine officer and seven grandchildren.”
Both mechanical engineering majors, the pair took classes together and loved to hang out. Robert graduated in 1981. Mary graduated in 1982, and they were married that same year.
“I started Hoffmann Brothers Heating, Air Conditioning, Plumbing and Electric,” he says. “Mary retired as the plant manager for the Henkel Corp. in St. Louis. We could not have done it without our live-in nannies. It makes family life easier.”
Share This Story
Spark a Memory?
Share your story! Fill out the form below to share your fondest memory or anecdote of S&T. If you'd prefer not typing, you can also share by phone at 833-646-3715 (833-Miner150).
Ruth (Farrar) and Richard Kinsey
Ruth (Farrar) met Richard Kinsey on the steps of his fraternity, Phi Kappa Theta in 2011. Ruth grew up in…
Walking on the sky
Col. Thomas Akers, Math’73, MS Math’75, has logged more than 800 hours of space flight and 29 hours of space-walking…
Solar Village people
Before there was a Solar Village on campus, there was a sole villager. Allison Arnn graduated in 2005 with an…
Erin Hayden and Matthew Garger
Although Erin Hayden and Matthew Garger were both students at S&T for an overlapping year, they didn’t meet until the…
From uranium to wine
Richard K. Vitek, a 1958 chemistry graduate, began his career as a research chemist producing uranium from ore, before moving…
Float like a butterfly
Few have shared the ring with Muhammad Ali or been praised by the New York Times as “one of America’s…