Carl Adam Hoffman, 1886–1956

Carl Adam Hoffman was born on 4 January 1886 in St. Louis, Missouri, the only son and child of Carl Hoffman, a real estate agent, and Ellen (Luebsen). Throughout his lifetime, Carl traveled regularly from the U.S. to Germany and Zurich, Switzerland. He attended college in Heidelberg, Germany, receiving a PhD in physics. Carl extended his passport because he intended to return to the United States immediately after his graduation. However, his father’s health deteriorated, and as war in Germany became imminent in 1917, Carl and his parents returned to Zurich where Carl planned to complete his doctoral degree. He intended to return to the United States after the war, but this did not happen.

Carl married on 29 January 1918 to Erna Elise Rebecka Albertine Osmers in Zurich. They had no children. Carl and Erna maintained a residence in St. Louis, but they moved permanently to Switzerland later in life.

Carl Adam Hoffman died on 24 February 1956 in Hessen, Germany. He was seventy years old and died of damage to the myocardium.

Written by Shirley Wadell
January 2025

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