June 26, 2011 | Read Time: 2 minutes
Age at death: 78
Major philanthropy job: At the time of his death, Robert Hohler was executive director of the Melville Charitable Trust, a Boston foundation that combats homelessness. He began advising the fund soon after its 1991 founding.
How he made his mark: Mr. Hohler was a key champion of an effort to rethink how to fight chronic homelessness. “That permanent, supportive housing is now seen as the preferred and best solution for chronic homelessness owes a great deal to Bob,” says Stephen Melville, chair of the trust.
His passion for the cause: Although Mr. Hohler didn’t talk much about it, fighting homelessness was a personal mission. His father suffered from alcoholism and he spent a few months in an orphanage when his mother was unable to care for him.
Major accomplishments: Mr. Hohler advocated for foundations to offer loans to finance low-cost housing, helped establish Funders Together to End Homelessness, and was key to expanding nationally the influence of the Corporation for Supportive Housing. In 2009, he received the Council on Foundations’ annual award for distinguished grant maker.
Other accomplishments: He was equally skilled at raising money for social-justice causes. Mr. Hohler became Oxfam America’s first director of development in 1977. He also worked on television documentaries about hunger and civil rights; marched on Selma, Ala., with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. during the 1960s; and advised International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, a group that won a Nobel Peace Prize for its efforts to prevent nuclear war.
How he will be remembered: As someone who loved his work and was always keen to experiment with new and risky ideas. “He was never limited by the sense of what foundations usually do,” says Melinda Marble, deputy director of the Barr Foundation. “He was always out there ahead of the rest of us.”
