Robert and Mary (Shultz) Hoffmann

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.

Robert and Mary (Shultz) Hoffmann
Robert and Mary (Shultz) Hoffmann and their family

“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).

Houston, we have a slight case of nausea

Houston, we have a slight case of nausea

NASA referred to its KC-125 aircraft as the “weightless wonder” because it carried college students and their experiments into micro-gravity…

EV pioneer

EV pioneer

As the auto industry begins to fully embrace the notion of electric vehicles, it has EV pioneers like Jon Bereisa…

Will Annunziata and Rebecka Connor

Will Annunziata and Rebecka Connor

Will Annunziata met Rebecka Connor in January 2016 while he was home on Christmas break from his first semester at…

Amanda (Kay Hansen) and Chris Byrd

Amanda (Kay Hansen) and Chris Byrd

It was a fire drill at TJ Residence Hall in September 1999 that first brought Amanda (Kay Hansen) and Chris…

Miner athletics’ biggest fan

Miner athletics’ biggest fan

Keith Bailey, a 1964 mechanical engineering graduate, transformed a company and then transformed S&T athletics. He joined Williams Co. in…

Communications entrepreneur and social engineer

Communications entrepreneur and social engineer

Kwesi Sipho Umoja, EE’67, says that Dr. Martin Luther King’s death had a profound effect on his perception of tomorrow….