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A.R.N. Funeral & Cremation Services-
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11411 N. Michigan Road
Zionsville, IN 46077
1930
David
2018
David Hoffman
March 27, 1930 — February 20, 2018
David Hoffman
Holocaust survivor, beloved husband, father and grandfather passed away on February 20, 2018 at the age of 87.
David was born on March 27, 1930 in Chust Czechoslovakia (today Khust, Ukraine) to Leib and Chana Hoffman. In the spring of 1944 and at the age of 14, David and his family were transported to Poland and imprisoned in the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp where his parents and four of his siblings perished. Over the next year, David survived the squalid conditions of four Nazi prison camps before being liberated by the 925th Engineer Aviation Regiment near Allach, Germany. While serving as the unit's official mascot, the American Red Cross was able to locate and reunite David with his older sister who was living in Chicago, IL. He immigrated to the United States in March 1946 as the Red Cross Poster Boy and his story of survival was recounted in papers throughout the nation.
David was a 1951 graduate of Hyde Park High School in Chicago, IL and attended Woodrow Wilson Junior College before transferring to Indiana University in 1953 where he graduated with a degree in History in 1956. He met his future wife, Miriam "Sunny" Shapiro on the Bloomington campus and the couple were married in Indianapolis, IN on January 27, 1957. They moved to Lawrence, Kansas where David opened up the Hideaway Campus Pizzeria, the first pizza parlor west of the Mississippi, alongside his business partner Les Gerig.
In 1968, David sold his pizza parlors and moved his family to Indianapolis where he began a 40-year career in sales at The Uniform House. He became a part owner of the company in 1982.
He was a longtime member of Congregation Beth-El Zedeck, an avid reader and a Silver Life Master Bridge player. He and Sunny loved to travel, spend time with their beautiful family and he never shied away from speaking about the Holocaust and bearing witness to the horrors of the Nazis. He recently completed his autobiography, which will be published posthumously.
Survivors include his wife, Miriam "Sunny" Hoffman; son, Dr. Joel (Carol) Hoffman; daughter, Debbie (Michael) Sapper; five grandchildren, Ian, Lauren, Ella, Michael and Sarah; and daughter-in-law, Carol Hoffman. He was preceded in death by his son, Danny Hoffman.
Funeral services will be on Sunday, February 25, 2018 at 1:00 PM at Aaron-Ruben-Nelson Mortuary, 11411 North Michigan Road, Zionsville, IN 46077.
Memorial contributions may be made to Jewish Federation of Greater Indianapolis, www.jfgi.org, or Jewish National Fund, www.jnf.org.
Condolences may be made at www.arnmortuary.com.
To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of David Hoffman, please visit our flower store.
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