Obituary of William S. Hoffman, III

William Stanislaus Hoffman III, died in his sleep on January 1, 2022, in Providence Village, Texas, while visiting family. He was 62.

Mr. Hoffman resided in Alexandria, Virginia. He worked as an award-winning journalist, writer and editor for more than three decades, covering a wide range of beats including government, banking and finance, healthcare, trade, energy, and taxation. During the 1990s, he held the title of National Correspondent for the publication Small Business News, covering Congress and federal agencies from a small business perspective.

For the past ten years, Mr. Hoffman was senior IRS reporter for the publication Tax Notes Today Federal. In this capacity, Mr. Hoffman was the first Tax Notes writer to bring a sitting IRS commissioner (John Koskinen) for on-the-record interviews with reporters and editors at the Tax Analysts building. Tax Notes senior executive editor for news, Chuck O’Toole, said of Hoffman: “He was one of the finest writers we’ve ever had. He never threw softballs.”

Mr. Hoffman was born on December 8, 1959, in St. Louis, Missouri, to William S. Hoffman, Jr. and Patricia Hoffman (nee Smith). Both were professional writers who, for a time during the 1970s and ‘80s, worked for the Delaware State News. Mr. Hoffman grew up in Dover, Delaware, and attended Delaware State College, as well as the University of Texas at Arlington, where he majored in history.

He is survived by his daughter, Kashmir Hoffman, and her husband, Brian Patrick McCarthy; grandsons Seamus and Ambrose McCarthy; his stepmother Judith Reeves-Hoffman of Temple, Georgia; sister Terri Hoffman and her husband, Julio Escalante, of New York City; sister Alicia White and her husband Michael White, of Villa Rica, Georgia; brothers John Hoffman of Oklahoma City, and Ethan and Micah Lewis of Temple, Georgia; nephews Patrick Escalante of NYC, Evan White of Villa Rica, Georgia; and niece Sage White, also of Villa Rica. He was preceded in death by his father, William S. Hoffman, Jr.; his mother, Patricia Smith Hoffman; and two brothers, James Francis Hoffman, and Joseph Michael Hoffman.

A memorial service is planned for a later date.