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Fun-loving musician leaves legacy of accolades
By BILL COATS, Times Staff Writer
LUTZ -- The children of Theodore "Ted" Hoffman were resigned to waking up to "The Pep Song." "Up, up, up with lots of peh-ep!" Hoffman would sing zestfully. "Up, up, up with lots of pep!" "We're up," the groggy kids would say. "We're up. Don't sing The Pep Song." Life with Hoffman was often musical and rarely dull. When he died on Jan. 2 at age 77, Hoffman's wife and four grown children lost a fun-loving patriarch who called himself leeringly, "Professor Lust." The University of South Florida lost a professor emeritus of humanities and the only composer in residence it ever had. All those qualities are to be celebrated in a memorial service at USF Saturday afternoon, at 3 p.m. in Theatre II. At least three pieces of Hoffman's music will be played. At USF, Hoffman wrote music for a variety of forms ranging from orchestra to theater to singers. His compositions have been performed across the United States and in 25 other countries. A California native, he studied in Oakland for his master's degree under French composer Darius Milhaud and jazz composer Dave Brubeck. Hoffman moved to Boston in the 1950s as musical director of WGBH, the public television station. His future wife, Nancy, was a producer and director there. They married in 1957. Back in California, Hoffman obtained a doctorate in oriental studies at the University of the Pacific. "He decided it was a very good time in history to be interested in that," Nancy Hoffman said. "It was an area that was unknown in this country." Then, Hoffman learned of the new university being formed north of Tampa. He applied and was hired as USF's composer in residence, teaching humanities. He eventually would earn a Fulbright grant to spend eight months studying in Japan and would compile at USF the nation's largest library of Japanese music. He reviewed books, particularly on Asian culture. In 1968, the Hoffmans bought one of the earliest houses built on Lake Hobbs in Lutz. They had parties there, and Hoffman often was the life of them, said one of his sons, also named Ted. "He was a social animal," Mrs. Hoffman said. For his children, Hoffman invented dinner-table tales, complete with contrived faces and voices. He claimed to be president of the Dirty Joke Club and composed satirical songs as easily as serious ones. One was called Educrats Forever, in the style of a show tune. "He had little patience with people who were dull, and he was never dull," said the younger Ted Hoffman, who followed his father's footsteps as a writer. Last year, the elder Hoffman was diagnosed with leukemia. When the prognosis turned grim, he sent a letter to his children, thanking them for their love. "How could a man be more successful than this?" Hoffman wrote. "So a life is to be truncated by some rogue cells -- so what? "I finally understand the meaning of 'my cup runneth over.' " -- Bill Coats can be reached at (813) 269-5309 or coats@sptimes.com .
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