Hoag’s Civic Work, Aid, Was Extensive

With the death of George Grant Hoag II, Orange County has lost a unique businessman whose philanthropic zeal helped numerous organizations and shaped Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian into a respected regional medical center.

His family’s fortune was built on the JC Penney department store chain, but those who knew Hoag described him as unassuming and modest.

If you met him, “you never would have guessed he was George Hoag,” said Michael Stephens, Hoag hospital’s president and chief administrative officer. “He was so matter-of-fact and approachable. . . . That’s the George Hoag we’ll all miss.”

Hoag died Thursday of cardiac arrest at the age of 77.

Through the George Hoag Family Foundation, millions of dollars in support were donated annually to a number of county organizations, including Boy Scouts, Big Brothers and Girls Clubs and Boys Clubs.

Hoag and his parents, Grace and George G. Hoag Sr., established the foundation to help charities and construction of the hospital named after his father, who was a partner and founder of Penney’s.

In 1950, the foundation donated $500,000 to an area Presbyterian group to build Hoag Hospital, which opened two years later with 75 beds. The hospital now has 416 beds.

Hoag was a private investor and member of Hoag’s hospital board from 1950 until he stepped down as board chairman in 1986. He was president of the George Hoag Family Foundation.

“Among the remarkable things in our relationship,” Stephens said, “is here is someone whose family name is on the hospital, and yet, he never interfered with the running of the operations. It was a mark of his stature and prominence.”

Hoag grew up in the lap of luxury. But he avoided publicity, a trait, among others, that he learned from his father, said Jim Felton, 80, a retired newspaper reporter who is writing a book on Hoag hospital and the family.

Hoag was born in New York City in 1917. As a youth, Hoag and his parents spent summers at the Beverly Hills Hotel, Felton said, where four special cottages outside of the main building were leased for the winter by prominent families: the Florsheims of the shoe company, the Hormels of the meat company, the Helms family of Helms Bakeries, and the Hoags.

“He actually attended grade school in Beverly Hills while living at the hotel,” Felton said. “They later moved to Orange County, but their families became close friends and also with Hollywood personalities like Harold Lloyd.”

Hoag attended Dartmouth University and Southwestern Law School and became a private investor. He always wanted to help others, Felton said.

“Here was a man who was on the Boy Scouts Council and he wasn’t just a member, he was president,” Felton said. “He really worked at these things. But he was on the boards of United Way, Big Brothers, City of Hope, Disneyland Community Service Awards just to name a few.

“There’s hardly a charity in Orange County that he hasn’t contributed to substantially,” Felton said. “At one time, he told me he was on the board of 38 different organizations.”

Devon Dougherty, a spokesman for the Boy Scouts, characterized Hoag as a “major benefactor for Scouting.” Camp Grace, named after Hoag’s mother, is part of a 140-acre facility in Lost Valley in the Anza Borrego high desert that is now owned by the Orange County Council of the Boy Scouts of America.

Hoag, his wife, Patty, and the hospital’s two foundations also were responsible for building the $23-million Patty and George Hoag Outpatient Cancer Center in 1990, the hospital’s last major expansion.

Hoag is survived by his wife; daughter, Melinda Smith of Santa Monica; and sons, Grant Hoag and Stephen Hoag, both of Paso Robles; and nine grandchildren.

Services are pending.