Edmund Hoffmann

March 31, 2003
Dr Edmund Hoffmann, poultry pioneer passes

Dr Edmund Hoffmann, Ph.D., passed away peacefully on March 31, 2003, in Valley Regional Hospital, Kentville, Nova Scotia.

Born September 4, 1914, in Woodhaven, New York, he was a son of the late Michael and Elsie (Aker) Hoffmann. Dr Hoffmann was an animal nutritionist, educator, renowned author of poultry books and a worldwide agricultural consultant. He had great intellect and a terrific sense of humour and spoke several languages.

His career in poultry started as an extension agent and progressed to University Professor and consultant. Over the last 50+ years he was a breeding consultant to many large breeding operations throughout North America, Europe, Asia and the Middle East. He developed many excellent broiler strains of poultry, several of which contained the sex-linked dwarf gene. He was also an expert in breeding commercial waterfowl and worked for over forty years with the Taiwanese duck industry. He earned his BS from Cornell University in 1937, his Master of Science from Rutgers in 1947 and his Doctorate from the University of Maryland in 1950.

Dr Hoffmann’s 1946 book "Successful Broiler Growing" (1st edition with Hugh Johnson and 2nd & 3rd editions with "Jimmy" Gwin) was the first on the commercialisation of the broiler chicken. He was key in developing a white-feathered broiler and was one of the originators of the Delaware Breed. 

An active individual all his life, at the time of his death, he was facilitating the transfer of a unique broiler strain to the Middle East. In later years he wrote the definitive book on the Coturnix Quail and was working on the second edition at the time of his death. It will be published posthumously.

A conservationist, he donated the Muskrat Farm Wildlife Preserve in Canard, Nova Scotia to the Province. He is survived by his wife, Lynn Hoffmann, Canning, NS; brother John Hoffmann, Dunedin, FL; sons, Michael and Robert, Pennsylvania; Thomas, West Virginia; eight grandchildren.

Brothers, Francis and Bud Hoffmann, predeceased him. There will be no service. Donations in memory of Dr Hoffmann may be made to the SPCA or Heart Function Clinic, QE II Health Sciences Centre of Halifax, Nova Scotia or the Victoria Order of Nurses, Kentville, Nova Scotia.

Cards of sympathy may be sent to the family through Serenity Funeral Specialists at P.O. Box 239, Port Williams, NS, BOP 1TO.

290 - World’s Poultry Science Journal, Vol. 59, June 2003