David George Ronald Hofman (1908 - May 9, 2003)[1] was a member of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá'í Faith, from 1963 to 1988 and founder of George Ronald Publisher, Oxford, England.
Mr. Hofman was born in 1908 in Poona, India where his father served in the British Army. Educated in England, as a young man he set out to see the world. While in Canada during the 1930s, he encountered the Bahá'í Faith at the home of May and William Sutherland Maxwell in Montreal. He embraced the Faith and continued his travels, living for a time in Hollywood, California, and appearing in a number of silent movies. Back in England he earned several acting roles in the West End of London and in 1937 became the world's only television announcer on the BBC's first television transmissions. His voice was also heard on the radio, on the BBC's Empire Service.
Following World War II he married former US Olympic athlete Marion Holley, who predeceased him. They had two children. The Hofmans were very active members of the Bahá'í community, establishing Bahá'í communities in Northampton, Birmingham, Oxford, Cardiff, and Watford. Mr. Hofman served for 27 years as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles. To promote books of religious interest, including titles on the Bahá'í Faith, he established the publishing firm George Ronald; its first title was The Renewal of Civilization, a book he wrote as an introduction to the Bahá'í Faith. Years later he authored a biography of Hand of the Cause George Townshend.
Mr. Hofman was elected to the Universal House of Justice at the first International Convention in 1963 and served on that body for 25 years. After his retirement in 1988, he made several extended international teaching trips, meeting not only with Bahá'í communities but with public officials and leaders of thought. After his passing the Universal House of Justice wrote, "He will be remembered for an adamantine loyalty to the cause, an unfailing response to the call and guidance of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice, a central role in the advancement of the British Bahá'í community and the launching of the brilliant African campaign, and his outstanding contributions to Bahá'í literature both as an author and a publisher."
Bahaipedia
Mr. Hofman was one of the nine elected members of the Universal House of Justice when that institution came into being in 1963. He presented the first statement from the supreme Bahá'í administrative body in April that year to the World Congress in London. Twenty-nine years later, in 1992, he delivered the opening address to the second Bahá'í World Congress in New York, an event attended by some 30,000 people. He served as a member of the Universal House of Justice for 25 years, until he left in 1988 at the age of 80.
On May 11, 2003, the Universal House of Justice sent a message to National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the world in which they spoke of how Mr. Hofman, "a vigorous promoter of the Faith for nigh on seven decades", had served the Faith with "exemplary zeal in Canada, the United States, the British Isles, the World Centre and, finally, to the last reserves of his strength, as a traveling teacher throughout the world."
"He will be remembered," the Universal House of Justice said, "for an adamantine loyalty to the Cause, an unfailing response to the call and guidance of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice, a central role in the advancement of the British Bahá'í community and the launching of the brilliant Africa Campaign, and his outstanding contributions to Bahá'í literature both as an author and a publisher."
"His life was crowned by twenty-five years of distinguished service as a member of the Universal House of Justice from 1963 to 1988."
When asked in 1997 about his experience as a member of the supreme Bahá'í body for so many years he said: "When you have experienced true consultation, there is nothing else like it." Mr. Hofman added that in his time on the Universal House of Justice there were only two or three times when a vote had to be taken.
Mr. Hofman founded the publishing house George Ronald, which specializes in Bahá'í books. It has published editions containing the Sacred Bahá'í Writings, and works by Hands of the Cause Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum, Hasan Balyuzi, Ugo Giachery, William Sears and George Townshend, and Universal House of Justice member, the late Adib Taherzadeh.
Mr. Hofman was a prolific and highly regarded author on Bahá'í topics. His books include a portrait of the life of Bahá'u'lláh, and a major biography of the Hand of the Cause George Townshend. He was the publisher, literary executor and close friend of Mr. Townshend.
His introduction to the Bahá'í Faith, "The Renewal of Civilization" was first published in 1946 but was revised and reprinted some nine times from then until 1992. The book was translated into six languages. Mr. Hofman also wrote a children's book, "God and His Messengers"; a 1950 commentary on the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá (with a 1982 epilogue), and a compilation about 'Abdu'l-Bahá from the notes of George Townshend.
His statement on the aims and purposes of the Bahá'í Faith made a regular appearance in volumes of "The Bahá'í World", an official international record of Bahá'í activities throughout the world.
A British citizen, Mr. Hofman was in Montreal Canada when in 1933 he became interested in the Bahá'í Faith through meeting prominent Bahá'ís Sutherland Maxwell and his wife, May. In an interview in 1997, he said that he had been an atheist with his own theory on how to create a new world order. The bright new future he saw for the planet had no place for God in it.
Mrs. Maxwell said to him: "You think you believe that–but you don't." More than six decades later, he said he recalled with absolute clarity the feeling her statement created with him. "I felt as if I were split down the middle," he recalled. Half of him believed what he was saying but the other half knew she was right. He had to make a choice. He became a Bahá'í.
After touring North America, he settled in Los Angeles, where he intended to become a film actor and served on the Local Spiritual Assembly. There he met Miss Marion Holley, who was later to become his wife.
In January 1936 he arrived back in England, was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly and, at the following National Convention, became its Secretary, while continuing to pursue his career as an actor. With brief intervals he served on the National Assembly for 27 years. In 1937 he was for a time the only male announcer on BBC television. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II he was drafted into the National Fire Service and, when he was invalided out in 1943 he returned to the theatre.
After a nine-year engagement Marion joined David in 1945 and they were married in England. They moved then to Northampton to establish a Bahá'í community and in 1948 went to Birmingham for the same reason. They carried out similar work when they went to live in Oxford and then, as part of the Faith's 10-year expansion plan between 1953 and 1963, they established Bahá'í communities in Cardiff and Watford.
Upon their departure from the Holy Land in 1988, the Hofmans settled in Steeple Aston in England where they served on the Local Spiritual Assembly together. They later moved to Oxford. In his later years, Mr. Hofman traveled widely, meeting with Bahá'í communities, where he was admired as a brilliant public speaker, for his deep knowledge of the Bahá'í Faith, his energy and for his warm, inclusive personality. He also met public officials and leaders of thought in many countries, including, for example, Australia and Canada.
The secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom, Barney Leith, said Mr. Hofman had a "long life of illustrious Bahá'í service."
Mr. Leith said Mr. Hofman had been admitted to hospital last week. Some Bahá'ís visited him in hospital and were with him until just before he passed away at 1a.m. Funeral arrangements would be made in due course, Mr. Leith said.
The Hofmans had two children, May and Mark. Mrs. Hofman, a highly regarded editor, died in 1995. Mr. Hofman later remarried.
Mr. Hofman is survived by his wife Kathleen, his children and grandchildren.
Baha'i Chronicals
Mr. Hofman was born in 1908 in Poona, India where his father served in the British Army. Educated in England, as a young man he set out to see the world. While in Canada during the 1930s, he encountered the Bahá'í Faith at the home of May and William Sutherland Maxwell in Montreal. He embraced the Faith and continued his travels, living for a time in Hollywood, California, and appearing in a number of silent movies. Back in England he earned several acting roles in the West End of London and in 1937 became the world's only television announcer on the BBC's first television transmissions. His voice was also heard on the radio, on the BBC's Empire Service.
Following World War II he married former US Olympic athlete Marion Holley, who predeceased him. They had two children. The Hofmans were very active members of the Bahá'í community, establishing Bahá'í communities in Northampton, Birmingham, Oxford, Cardiff, and Watford. Mr. Hofman served for 27 years as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles. To promote books of religious interest, including titles on the Bahá'í Faith, he established the publishing firm George Ronald; its first title was The Renewal of Civilization, a book he wrote as an introduction to the Bahá'í Faith. Years later he authored a biography of Hand of the Cause George Townshend.
Mr. Hofman was elected to the Universal House of Justice at the first International Convention in 1963 and served on that body for 25 years. After his retirement in 1988, he made several extended international teaching trips, meeting not only with Bahá'í communities but with public officials and leaders of thought. After his passing the Universal House of Justice wrote, "He will be remembered for an adamantine loyalty to the cause, an unfailing response to the call and guidance of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice, a central role in the advancement of the British Bahá'í community and the launching of the brilliant African campaign, and his outstanding contributions to Bahá'í literature both as an author and a publisher."
Bahaipedia
Mr. Hofman was one of the nine elected members of the Universal House of Justice when that institution came into being in 1963. He presented the first statement from the supreme Bahá'í administrative body in April that year to the World Congress in London. Twenty-nine years later, in 1992, he delivered the opening address to the second Bahá'í World Congress in New York, an event attended by some 30,000 people. He served as a member of the Universal House of Justice for 25 years, until he left in 1988 at the age of 80.
On May 11, 2003, the Universal House of Justice sent a message to National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the world in which they spoke of how Mr. Hofman, "a vigorous promoter of the Faith for nigh on seven decades", had served the Faith with "exemplary zeal in Canada, the United States, the British Isles, the World Centre and, finally, to the last reserves of his strength, as a traveling teacher throughout the world."
"He will be remembered," the Universal House of Justice said, "for an adamantine loyalty to the Cause, an unfailing response to the call and guidance of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice, a central role in the advancement of the British Bahá'í community and the launching of the brilliant Africa Campaign, and his outstanding contributions to Bahá'í literature both as an author and a publisher."
"His life was crowned by twenty-five years of distinguished service as a member of the Universal House of Justice from 1963 to 1988."
When asked in 1997 about his experience as a member of the supreme Bahá'í body for so many years he said: "When you have experienced true consultation, there is nothing else like it." Mr. Hofman added that in his time on the Universal House of Justice there were only two or three times when a vote had to be taken.
Mr. Hofman founded the publishing house George Ronald, which specializes in Bahá'í books. It has published editions containing the Sacred Bahá'í Writings, and works by Hands of the Cause Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum, Hasan Balyuzi, Ugo Giachery, William Sears and George Townshend, and Universal House of Justice member, the late Adib Taherzadeh.
Mr. Hofman was a prolific and highly regarded author on Bahá'í topics. His books include a portrait of the life of Bahá'u'lláh, and a major biography of the Hand of the Cause George Townshend. He was the publisher, literary executor and close friend of Mr. Townshend.
His introduction to the Bahá'í Faith, "The Renewal of Civilization" was first published in 1946 but was revised and reprinted some nine times from then until 1992. The book was translated into six languages. Mr. Hofman also wrote a children's book, "God and His Messengers"; a 1950 commentary on the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá (with a 1982 epilogue), and a compilation about 'Abdu'l-Bahá from the notes of George Townshend.
His statement on the aims and purposes of the Bahá'í Faith made a regular appearance in volumes of "The Bahá'í World", an official international record of Bahá'í activities throughout the world.
A British citizen, Mr. Hofman was in Montreal Canada when in 1933 he became interested in the Bahá'í Faith through meeting prominent Bahá'ís Sutherland Maxwell and his wife, May. In an interview in 1997, he said that he had been an atheist with his own theory on how to create a new world order. The bright new future he saw for the planet had no place for God in it.
Mrs. Maxwell said to him: "You think you believe that–but you don't." More than six decades later, he said he recalled with absolute clarity the feeling her statement created with him. "I felt as if I were split down the middle," he recalled. Half of him believed what he was saying but the other half knew she was right. He had to make a choice. He became a Bahá'í.
After touring North America, he settled in Los Angeles, where he intended to become a film actor and served on the Local Spiritual Assembly. There he met Miss Marion Holley, who was later to become his wife.
In January 1936 he arrived back in England, was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly and, at the following National Convention, became its Secretary, while continuing to pursue his career as an actor. With brief intervals he served on the National Assembly for 27 years. In 1937 he was for a time the only male announcer on BBC television. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II he was drafted into the National Fire Service and, when he was invalided out in 1943 he returned to the theatre.
After a nine-year engagement Marion joined David in 1945 and they were married in England. They moved then to Northampton to establish a Bahá'í community and in 1948 went to Birmingham for the same reason. They carried out similar work when they went to live in Oxford and then, as part of the Faith's 10-year expansion plan between 1953 and 1963, they established Bahá'í communities in Cardiff and Watford.
Upon their departure from the Holy Land in 1988, the Hofmans settled in Steeple Aston in England where they served on the Local Spiritual Assembly together. They later moved to Oxford. In his later years, Mr. Hofman traveled widely, meeting with Bahá'í communities, where he was admired as a brilliant public speaker, for his deep knowledge of the Bahá'í Faith, his energy and for his warm, inclusive personality. He also met public officials and leaders of thought in many countries, including, for example, Australia and Canada.
The secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom, Barney Leith, said Mr. Hofman had a "long life of illustrious Bahá'í service."
Mr. Leith said Mr. Hofman had been admitted to hospital last week. Some Bahá'ís visited him in hospital and were with him until just before he passed away at 1a.m. Funeral arrangements would be made in due course, Mr. Leith said.
The Hofmans had two children, May and Mark. Mrs. Hofman, a highly regarded editor, died in 1995. Mr. Hofman later remarried.
Mr. Hofman is survived by his wife Kathleen, his children and grandchildren.
Baha'i Chronicals
David George Ronald Hofman (1908 - May 9, 2003)[1] was a member of the Universal House of Justice, the supreme governing body of the Bahá'í Faith, from 1963 to 1988 and founder of George Ronald Publisher, Oxford, England.
Mr. Hofman was born in 1908 in Poona, India where his father served in the British Army. Educated in England, as a young man he set out to see the world. While in Canada during the 1930s, he encountered the Bahá'í Faith at the home of May and William Sutherland Maxwell in Montreal. He embraced the Faith and continued his travels, living for a time in Hollywood, California, and appearing in a number of silent movies. Back in England he earned several acting roles in the West End of London and in 1937 became the world's only television announcer on the BBC's first television transmissions. His voice was also heard on the radio, on the BBC's Empire Service.
Following World War II he married former US Olympic athlete Marion Holley, who predeceased him. They had two children. The Hofmans were very active members of the Bahá'í community, establishing Bahá'í communities in Northampton, Birmingham, Oxford, Cardiff, and Watford. Mr. Hofman served for 27 years as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles. To promote books of religious interest, including titles on the Bahá'í Faith, he established the publishing firm George Ronald; its first title was The Renewal of Civilization, a book he wrote as an introduction to the Bahá'í Faith. Years later he authored a biography of Hand of the Cause George Townshend.
Mr. Hofman was elected to the Universal House of Justice at the first International Convention in 1963 and served on that body for 25 years. After his retirement in 1988, he made several extended international teaching trips, meeting not only with Bahá'í communities but with public officials and leaders of thought. After his passing the Universal House of Justice wrote, "He will be remembered for an adamantine loyalty to the cause, an unfailing response to the call and guidance of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice, a central role in the advancement of the British Bahá'í community and the launching of the brilliant African campaign, and his outstanding contributions to Bahá'í literature both as an author and a publisher."
Bahaipedia
Mr. Hofman was one of the nine elected members of the Universal House of Justice when that institution came into being in 1963. He presented the first statement from the supreme Bahá'í administrative body in April that year to the World Congress in London. Twenty-nine years later, in 1992, he delivered the opening address to the second Bahá'í World Congress in New York, an event attended by some 30,000 people. He served as a member of the Universal House of Justice for 25 years, until he left in 1988 at the age of 80.
On May 11, 2003, the Universal House of Justice sent a message to National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the world in which they spoke of how Mr. Hofman, "a vigorous promoter of the Faith for nigh on seven decades", had served the Faith with "exemplary zeal in Canada, the United States, the British Isles, the World Centre and, finally, to the last reserves of his strength, as a traveling teacher throughout the world."
"He will be remembered," the Universal House of Justice said, "for an adamantine loyalty to the Cause, an unfailing response to the call and guidance of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice, a central role in the advancement of the British Bahá'í community and the launching of the brilliant Africa Campaign, and his outstanding contributions to Bahá'í literature both as an author and a publisher."
"His life was crowned by twenty-five years of distinguished service as a member of the Universal House of Justice from 1963 to 1988."
When asked in 1997 about his experience as a member of the supreme Bahá'í body for so many years he said: "When you have experienced true consultation, there is nothing else like it." Mr. Hofman added that in his time on the Universal House of Justice there were only two or three times when a vote had to be taken.
Mr. Hofman founded the publishing house George Ronald, which specializes in Bahá'í books. It has published editions containing the Sacred Bahá'í Writings, and works by Hands of the Cause Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum, Hasan Balyuzi, Ugo Giachery, William Sears and George Townshend, and Universal House of Justice member, the late Adib Taherzadeh.
Mr. Hofman was a prolific and highly regarded author on Bahá'í topics. His books include a portrait of the life of Bahá'u'lláh, and a major biography of the Hand of the Cause George Townshend. He was the publisher, literary executor and close friend of Mr. Townshend.
His introduction to the Bahá'í Faith, "The Renewal of Civilization" was first published in 1946 but was revised and reprinted some nine times from then until 1992. The book was translated into six languages. Mr. Hofman also wrote a children's book, "God and His Messengers"; a 1950 commentary on the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá (with a 1982 epilogue), and a compilation about 'Abdu'l-Bahá from the notes of George Townshend.
His statement on the aims and purposes of the Bahá'í Faith made a regular appearance in volumes of "The Bahá'í World", an official international record of Bahá'í activities throughout the world.
A British citizen, Mr. Hofman was in Montreal Canada when in 1933 he became interested in the Bahá'í Faith through meeting prominent Bahá'ís Sutherland Maxwell and his wife, May. In an interview in 1997, he said that he had been an atheist with his own theory on how to create a new world order. The bright new future he saw for the planet had no place for God in it.
Mrs. Maxwell said to him: "You think you believe that–but you don't." More than six decades later, he said he recalled with absolute clarity the feeling her statement created with him. "I felt as if I were split down the middle," he recalled. Half of him believed what he was saying but the other half knew she was right. He had to make a choice. He became a Bahá'í.
After touring North America, he settled in Los Angeles, where he intended to become a film actor and served on the Local Spiritual Assembly. There he met Miss Marion Holley, who was later to become his wife.
In January 1936 he arrived back in England, was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly and, at the following National Convention, became its Secretary, while continuing to pursue his career as an actor. With brief intervals he served on the National Assembly for 27 years. In 1937 he was for a time the only male announcer on BBC television. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II he was drafted into the National Fire Service and, when he was invalided out in 1943 he returned to the theatre.
After a nine-year engagement Marion joined David in 1945 and they were married in England. They moved then to Northampton to establish a Bahá'í community and in 1948 went to Birmingham for the same reason. They carried out similar work when they went to live in Oxford and then, as part of the Faith's 10-year expansion plan between 1953 and 1963, they established Bahá'í communities in Cardiff and Watford.
Upon their departure from the Holy Land in 1988, the Hofmans settled in Steeple Aston in England where they served on the Local Spiritual Assembly together. They later moved to Oxford. In his later years, Mr. Hofman traveled widely, meeting with Bahá'í communities, where he was admired as a brilliant public speaker, for his deep knowledge of the Bahá'í Faith, his energy and for his warm, inclusive personality. He also met public officials and leaders of thought in many countries, including, for example, Australia and Canada.
The secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom, Barney Leith, said Mr. Hofman had a "long life of illustrious Bahá'í service."
Mr. Leith said Mr. Hofman had been admitted to hospital last week. Some Bahá'ís visited him in hospital and were with him until just before he passed away at 1a.m. Funeral arrangements would be made in due course, Mr. Leith said.
The Hofmans had two children, May and Mark. Mrs. Hofman, a highly regarded editor, died in 1995. Mr. Hofman later remarried.
Mr. Hofman is survived by his wife Kathleen, his children and grandchildren.
Baha'i Chronicals
Mr. Hofman was born in 1908 in Poona, India where his father served in the British Army. Educated in England, as a young man he set out to see the world. While in Canada during the 1930s, he encountered the Bahá'í Faith at the home of May and William Sutherland Maxwell in Montreal. He embraced the Faith and continued his travels, living for a time in Hollywood, California, and appearing in a number of silent movies. Back in England he earned several acting roles in the West End of London and in 1937 became the world's only television announcer on the BBC's first television transmissions. His voice was also heard on the radio, on the BBC's Empire Service.
Following World War II he married former US Olympic athlete Marion Holley, who predeceased him. They had two children. The Hofmans were very active members of the Bahá'í community, establishing Bahá'í communities in Northampton, Birmingham, Oxford, Cardiff, and Watford. Mr. Hofman served for 27 years as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the British Isles. To promote books of religious interest, including titles on the Bahá'í Faith, he established the publishing firm George Ronald; its first title was The Renewal of Civilization, a book he wrote as an introduction to the Bahá'í Faith. Years later he authored a biography of Hand of the Cause George Townshend.
Mr. Hofman was elected to the Universal House of Justice at the first International Convention in 1963 and served on that body for 25 years. After his retirement in 1988, he made several extended international teaching trips, meeting not only with Bahá'í communities but with public officials and leaders of thought. After his passing the Universal House of Justice wrote, "He will be remembered for an adamantine loyalty to the cause, an unfailing response to the call and guidance of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice, a central role in the advancement of the British Bahá'í community and the launching of the brilliant African campaign, and his outstanding contributions to Bahá'í literature both as an author and a publisher."
Bahaipedia
Mr. Hofman was one of the nine elected members of the Universal House of Justice when that institution came into being in 1963. He presented the first statement from the supreme Bahá'í administrative body in April that year to the World Congress in London. Twenty-nine years later, in 1992, he delivered the opening address to the second Bahá'í World Congress in New York, an event attended by some 30,000 people. He served as a member of the Universal House of Justice for 25 years, until he left in 1988 at the age of 80.
On May 11, 2003, the Universal House of Justice sent a message to National Spiritual Assemblies throughout the world in which they spoke of how Mr. Hofman, "a vigorous promoter of the Faith for nigh on seven decades", had served the Faith with "exemplary zeal in Canada, the United States, the British Isles, the World Centre and, finally, to the last reserves of his strength, as a traveling teacher throughout the world."
"He will be remembered," the Universal House of Justice said, "for an adamantine loyalty to the Cause, an unfailing response to the call and guidance of the Guardian and the Universal House of Justice, a central role in the advancement of the British Bahá'í community and the launching of the brilliant Africa Campaign, and his outstanding contributions to Bahá'í literature both as an author and a publisher."
"His life was crowned by twenty-five years of distinguished service as a member of the Universal House of Justice from 1963 to 1988."
When asked in 1997 about his experience as a member of the supreme Bahá'í body for so many years he said: "When you have experienced true consultation, there is nothing else like it." Mr. Hofman added that in his time on the Universal House of Justice there were only two or three times when a vote had to be taken.
Mr. Hofman founded the publishing house George Ronald, which specializes in Bahá'í books. It has published editions containing the Sacred Bahá'í Writings, and works by Hands of the Cause Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum, Hasan Balyuzi, Ugo Giachery, William Sears and George Townshend, and Universal House of Justice member, the late Adib Taherzadeh.
Mr. Hofman was a prolific and highly regarded author on Bahá'í topics. His books include a portrait of the life of Bahá'u'lláh, and a major biography of the Hand of the Cause George Townshend. He was the publisher, literary executor and close friend of Mr. Townshend.
His introduction to the Bahá'í Faith, "The Renewal of Civilization" was first published in 1946 but was revised and reprinted some nine times from then until 1992. The book was translated into six languages. Mr. Hofman also wrote a children's book, "God and His Messengers"; a 1950 commentary on the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá (with a 1982 epilogue), and a compilation about 'Abdu'l-Bahá from the notes of George Townshend.
His statement on the aims and purposes of the Bahá'í Faith made a regular appearance in volumes of "The Bahá'í World", an official international record of Bahá'í activities throughout the world.
A British citizen, Mr. Hofman was in Montreal Canada when in 1933 he became interested in the Bahá'í Faith through meeting prominent Bahá'ís Sutherland Maxwell and his wife, May. In an interview in 1997, he said that he had been an atheist with his own theory on how to create a new world order. The bright new future he saw for the planet had no place for God in it.
Mrs. Maxwell said to him: "You think you believe that–but you don't." More than six decades later, he said he recalled with absolute clarity the feeling her statement created with him. "I felt as if I were split down the middle," he recalled. Half of him believed what he was saying but the other half knew she was right. He had to make a choice. He became a Bahá'í.
After touring North America, he settled in Los Angeles, where he intended to become a film actor and served on the Local Spiritual Assembly. There he met Miss Marion Holley, who was later to become his wife.
In January 1936 he arrived back in England, was elected to the National Spiritual Assembly and, at the following National Convention, became its Secretary, while continuing to pursue his career as an actor. With brief intervals he served on the National Assembly for 27 years. In 1937 he was for a time the only male announcer on BBC television. Shortly after the outbreak of World War II he was drafted into the National Fire Service and, when he was invalided out in 1943 he returned to the theatre.
After a nine-year engagement Marion joined David in 1945 and they were married in England. They moved then to Northampton to establish a Bahá'í community and in 1948 went to Birmingham for the same reason. They carried out similar work when they went to live in Oxford and then, as part of the Faith's 10-year expansion plan between 1953 and 1963, they established Bahá'í communities in Cardiff and Watford.
Upon their departure from the Holy Land in 1988, the Hofmans settled in Steeple Aston in England where they served on the Local Spiritual Assembly together. They later moved to Oxford. In his later years, Mr. Hofman traveled widely, meeting with Bahá'í communities, where he was admired as a brilliant public speaker, for his deep knowledge of the Bahá'í Faith, his energy and for his warm, inclusive personality. He also met public officials and leaders of thought in many countries, including, for example, Australia and Canada.
The secretary of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the United Kingdom, Barney Leith, said Mr. Hofman had a "long life of illustrious Bahá'í service."
Mr. Leith said Mr. Hofman had been admitted to hospital last week. Some Bahá'ís visited him in hospital and were with him until just before he passed away at 1a.m. Funeral arrangements would be made in due course, Mr. Leith said.
The Hofmans had two children, May and Mark. Mrs. Hofman, a highly regarded editor, died in 1995. Mr. Hofman later remarried.
Mr. Hofman is survived by his wife Kathleen, his children and grandchildren.
Baha'i Chronicals
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