Philip Hochman

Philip Hochman: June 28, 1927 – April 21st, 2022

Phil passed away peacefully at 94 years old, just shy of his 95th birthday.
He was a World War II Navy Veteran who served on the YMS419, a minesweeper in the Sea of Japan.
He toured Hiroshima shortly following the dropping of the A bomb.

Phil was well suited to his profession in sales. He cut his teeth selling Kirby Vacuum Cleaners door-to- door and children's photo portraits door-to-door. His gift of the gab was further honed as he ventured into the architectural woodworking industry, selling doors, and custom millwork for commercial applications. He later built his own sales company Hochman Architectural Sales, which later became Hochman Associates, representing manufacturing companies all over the country.

But it was his love of performing that consumed him. Starting in the 1960's he began his acting career with the St. Joseph's Players in Carteret, NJ. As his confidence and acting skills increased, he performed in many community theaters and also at the Lamb's Theater in NYC and a production in the Village. He also did a commercial or two, one as Grandpa for Sponge Bob Square Pants. Next he ventured into independent films for upcoming directors at NYU. He even was an extra for a Barbara Streisand movie, A Mirror Has Two Faces (he was in the audience scene, if you blinked, you missed him).

He became enamored with comedy (he was always a good story teller) and developed a comedy series at the Watchung Arts Center where his comedian friend Johnny Mac brought in comics from NYC. The series ran for several years. It was with Johnny Mac's urging that Phil took the plunge into doing standup comedy. It became his first love and he was good at it, winning a contest at the Bound Brook Theater which gave him mike time at The Stress Factory in New Brunswick. He also performed several times at Catch a Rising Star in Princeton. In the meantime, he also became a founding member of The Improvables, an improv group which performed on a regular basis at the Watchung Arts Center as well as many other local venues.

Phil was also a 30 year cancer survivor who stayed vitally involved with several support groups, becoming a reassuring voice to newly diagnosed patients around the country via telephone. He was
an honored teammate for The Lymphoma/Leukemia Team in Training, giving motivational talks at meetings and dinners (thank you Running Ron for that connection).

He is survived by his loving wife Karen Hochman, his son Ron (Randi) Hochman, his daughter Suzanne Nevins, his grandchildren: Melanie (Matthew) Hochman, Brooke (Ray) Graham, Meredith (Andrew) Jaffe and great grandchildren: Zoe Derevenski, Faith Graham, Frankie & Bennett Jaffe.

For those of you who chose to do so, donations can be made in his memory to the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society (which does research into all blood cancers) or the American Heart Association.

RIP Phil

A celebration of his life will take place in the near future.