By the Family

Aug. 17, 2016:  Bronxville resident Mary Camp Hoch died on August 3, 2016, from a traumatic brain injury as a result of a fall on a staircase in her Bronxville home. She is survived by her loving husband, Jim, her children, Bill, Julia, and Ross, and her sisters, Barbara Linville of Naples, FL, and Lake Bluff, IL, and Carol Shepard of Durham, NC, as well as numerous cousins, nieces, and nephews.

Mary was born on July 14, 1960, in Champaign, Illinois, to Ross and Barbara Camp. After graduating from Phillips Academy Andover, she was awarded the Morehead-Cain Scholarship to attend the University of North Carolina. There she double-majored in political science and economics and was a member of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority. 

Mary played piano all her life and went from singing at Andover in the Fidelio Society to co-founding the Loroleis, the first female a cappella group at UNC. 

Upon graduating from the honors program at UNC in 1982, Mary traveled to England, Russia, and Japan to research labor-management relations. Then, after working at Kidder Peabody for two years, she received her MBA from Harvard Business School in 1986. She would go on to work in corporate finance and investment banking, first returning to Kidder Peabody and then moving to Donaldson, Lufkin & Jenrette. She and her husband, Jim, met at HBS and married in August of 1987. 

Mary and Jim have three children; Bill and Julia were born in Bronxville, and Ross was born after the family moved to London, where they lived for six years. In London, Mary was involved in St. Columba's Church, made many new friends, studied antiques, and traveled throughout Europe, while caring for her three growing children. 

Mary avidly supported education, her church, and classical music, particularly at Concordia Conservatory in Bronxville, where she founded the Hoch Chamber Music Series. For Andover, she served as a member of the alumni council, an admissions representative, and a trustee of Phillips Academy. She co-founded its London Regional Association and established a scholarship for the school. She was a deacon at The Reformed Church of Bronxville, and her work there included forming the Food for Thought book group, serving on the Education, Youth, and Pastoral Care and Congregational Life Councils, and teaching Sunday school. 

Always eager to volunteer in service of others, Mary served as a member of the Village Finance Committee and the Junior League, as co-president of the Eliza Corwin Frost Nursery School Parent Committee, and as class parent and co-chair of the music and chess club committees at The Bronxville School. She also was on the parents' committees at Duke University and Williams College.

All her life she remained devoted to her faith and her family. She will be dearly missed and remembered for her love, humanity, intelligence, grace, and warmth.

A memorial service was held at The Reformed Church of Bronxville on Tuesday, August 9, 2016.

Memorial contributions can be made in her name to Concordia Conservatory, The Reformed Church of Bronxville, and Phillips Academy Andover. 

Photo of Mary Hoch by Flladi Kulla, courtesy Kathleen Suss