Roy Louis Hoffman

Roy Louis Hoffman, age 89, a lifelong area resident, died October 7, 2026 at the Mayo Clinic Health Systems-St. Mary's Campus, Rochester, MN.

Roy was born August 22, 1937 in Rochester, MN, the son of Donald and Rose (Karlen) Hoffman. He grew up on the family farm near Douglas and attended District #95, the Hoffman School. In 1955, he graduated from Rochester High School. He then attended and graduated from Rochester Junior College in 1957 and the South Dakota School of Mines & Technology in Rapid City, SD, in 1959, receiving a B.S. in electrical engineering. From 1959 to 1961 he lived in Salt Lake City, UT, while employed at Sperry Utah Engineering Laboratories. Then it was back to 'Mines' for an M.S. in electrical engineering in 1962. Returning to Rochester, he began his career with IBM. After two years, in 1964 he took a leave of absence and attended the University of Denver in Denver, CO, receiving a Ph.D. in electrical engineering in 1967. He again returned to Rochester, this time to stay, working for IBM until retiring as a Senior Technical Staff Member in 1994.

Elected to several academic honor societies, including Sigma XI, Eta Kappa Nu, and Phi Theta Kappa, he was a member of professional organizations including the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical Engineers, of which he was a Life Member. In 1993 he was elected to the IBM Academy of Technology. An accomplished inventor, he was credited with 12 U.S. patents. He authored more than 20 professional articles and, after retiring from IBM, published a book on data compression and taught a class at St. Mary's University in Rochester. Roy became interested in genealogy and compiled several volumes on the history of his family. This led him to create a genealogy index of the Pine Island newspaper, published in 2005. He was a member of the Olmsted County Historical Society and the Pine Island Area Historical Society.

After living in Rochester for a few years, in 1973 Roy moved to an acreage near Pine Island to live the life of a Country Gentleman - happily picking rocks, pulling weeds, battling buckthorn, sawing and splitting wood - over the years consuming several John Deere lawn tractors blowing snow in the winter, endlessly cutting grass in the summer. For fun there were the snowmobiles and Harleys. A new chapter of his life began in 2017 when he moved to The Homestead at Rochester.

He never married. There are no immediate survivors. Honoring Roy's wishes, there will be no funeral service. Interment will be in Center Grove Cemetery in Douglas. Memorials are preferred to the Olmsted County Historical Society, the Pine Island Area Historical Society, or a charity of the donor's choice.

Ranfranz and Vine Funeral Homes in Rochester is in charge of arrangements. www.ranfranzandvinefh.com