Hoff Center

10/19/2015
Eagle-Tribune

LOWELL – One of the most generous donors to UMass Lowell and the University of Massachusetts system is again making a significant gift, this time to honor two of the system’s leaders who are also alumni.

Charles J. Hoff will donate $1 million to scholarship funds in honor of the inaugurations of new UMass Lowell Chancellor Jacquie Moloney and UMass President Marty Meehan. Moloney, who was UMass Lowell’s executive vice chancellor for eight years, was selected in August to succeed Meehan, who had served as chancellor since 2007 before being appointed system president. Both Moloney and Meehan are graduates of UMass Lowell.

Moloney will be inaugurated at the Tsongas Center at UMass Lowell on Thursday.

Meehan’s inaugural ceremony will be held on Thursday, Nov. 12 at the Edward M. Kennedy Institute for the United States Senate at UMass Boston.

“I have been fortunate to be able to assist so many talented students who have followed in my footsteps at Lowell and throughout the system. Now, it is my great pleasure to also support the inaugurations of two of the university’s most esteemed graduates and leaders, each of whom has demonstrated a tremendous commitment to the success of UMass and its students,” said Hoff, who graduated in 1966 with a bachelor’s degree in industrial management from Lowell Tech, one of UMass Lowell’s predecessor institutions. 

Hoff’s previous contributions over the past 25 years total more than $10 million. They include a 2007 gift that was used to create the largest privately financed scholarship program in the university’s history. Scholarships have gone to recent immigrants, homeless students and others with extreme obstacles. The students who benefit from the program, known as “Hoff scholars.”

Last year, UMass Lowell named its new alumni center the Charles J. Hoff Alumni Scholarship Center in recognition of Hoff’s legacy of giving and his leadership on major fundraising efforts. 

Originally from Medford, Hoff now lives in York, Maine and Naples, Fla. Today, Hoff manages Hoff Family Associates, which makes equity investments in growing companies around New England and in local real estate projects. He is also chairman of the Hoff Foundation, which supports charitable organizations and education.

His career also includes serving as a senior vice president of operations for Bausch & Lomb and senior management positions with Wang Laboratories, Polaroid and Gillette. From 1983 to 1986, he was president, CEO and owner of ARL Analytical Instruments Co., which generated more than $100 million in worldwide sales and later was the owner, chairman and CEO of Universal/Univis Inc., a group of designer eyewear companies.