Woody Hochswender

SHARON — William Joseph Hochswender III, known to everyone as Woody, died Dec. 31, 2015, at his home in Sharon. He was 64.

Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., on June 20, 1951, he was the son of the late Roslyn (McCarthy) and William Joseph Hochswender II. The family moved to Sea Cliff on Long Island when he was a boy and he attended Sea Cliff schools and North Shore High School, where he earned many academic and athletic honors. 

Woody attended Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., and was a member of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity. It was an all-male school at that time; he also attended the all-women’s Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., as an exchange student for one semester. 

After graduation, he had a number of odd and colorful jobs. He liked to tell stories about working at UPS and about selling yo-yos on the steps of Lincoln Center. At one point he ran the bicycle rental concession in Central Park. He was a model for a while, and was in magazine photo shoots and runway fashion shows, hired by the woman who would be one of the biggest professional influences in his life, Kezia Keeble. 

Kezia introduced Woody to Nichiren Buddhism, a practice to which he remained faithful for the rest of his life; and she encouraged him to follow his dream of becoming a professional writer and working in the publishing industry.

It was his buddhist chanting and Kezia’s mentoring that led him to his first job as a book jacket copy writer for Avon Books, which was owned by the Hearst Corporation. For most of his career, Woody worked for Hearst, first at Avon, then at the Los Angeles Herald Examiner (where he worked for the legendary editor Jim Bellows) and then at Harper’s Bazaar, where he was a features editor. 

Thanks in part to his training as a book jacket editor, Woody became a master at writing pithy, witty sentences. In his writing, he never wasted words. 

He was also a particularly fine editor who could gracefully and skillfully reshape his writers’ words (although only when necessary). He was also exceptionally compassionate toward and considerate of his writers. 

He was hired away from Bazaar to become a fashion reporter for The New York Times. In addition to traveling to Paris, London, Milan and other major cities in Europe, Asia and the United States to cover runway shows, he wrote a weekly column for The Times called Patterns, which covered the business of Seventh Avenue (as the fashion industry is known).  

As a New York Times fashion journalist, he was courted by the wealthy, the powerful and the beautiful, but he always remained true to who he was.  In part because of this, there was an honesty, simplicity and purity to his writing that made his work exceptional. 

Throughout his career, many editors tried to hire him away; eventually he left The Times to join his friend Terry McDonnell at Esquire (another Hearst publication). In addition to writing about menswear and men’s style, and editing a special publication called Esquire Gentleman, he wrote a column for Esquire’s sister publication, Harper’s Bazaar, called Pins and Needles. He remained at Esquire after Terry left, working under another legendary editor, Ed Kosner. When Kosner left, Woody left, too. 

Around that time, his father was badly injured in a boating accident at his summer home on Block Island, R.I.  While his two broken legs were being treated, it was discovered that Bill also had a cancer that had spread throughout most of his body. Woody was living part-time in Sharon at that time; his father also had a Sharon residence. Woody nursed his father through his illness and wrote from home until his father’s death. 

Woody meanwhile had discovered that he liked working from home and that in many ways it was easier to write when he could spend part of the day puttering around the house and playing with his golden retriever, Lola, before sitting down to type. He loved the Northwest Corner’s country roads and expansive views, and the many lakes and ponds. He loved to swim and even though he preferred the ocean beaches from his Long Island youth, he was always happy to be swimming outdoors at Mudge Pond and indoors at The Hotchkiss School.

While living in Sharon, he was a freelance writer for many publications, including The New York Times, the Chicago Tribune and Sports Illustrated’s Golf magazine. 

He wrote two books on Nichiren Buddhism: “The Buddha in Your Mirror” and “The Buddha in Your Rearview Mirror.” At the time of his death, he was working on a book about Buddhism for teens. 

While he was working at home, he was able to spend time after school every day with his beloved daughter, Kate. From time to time he would work as a substitute teacher in Region One schools, which he enjoyed because it allowed him to sometimes spend the day at Sharon Center School with Kate. He also taught for a year at the private Salisbury School. 

In between teaching, writing, swimming, playing with his dog and making soup for Kate, he also found time for several years in a row to appear as a member of the chorus in Gilbert and Sullivan productions with the Light Opera Company of Salisbury, an experience he loved.

In February 2015, he was diagnosed with a glioblastoma in the right frontal lobe of his brain. It was removed successfully, and he spent the remainder of the year traveling across the country with his girlfriend, Kirsten Jensen.

Woody is survived by his daughter, Katharine Hochswender of Lakeville; his former wife, Cynthia Hochswender of Lakeville; his sister, Pat Leri and her husband, Ron, of Hunter, N.Y.; his niece, Alessandra Leri and her husband, Louis-Pierre Arguin, and their daughter, Mariette Leri Arguin, of New York City; his nephew, Matthew Leri and his wife, Julie, of Salt Lake City, Utah; his girlfriend, Kirsten Jensen of Doylestown, Pa.; and countless loyal friends, many of whom he had known for decades.

Burial will be private. A memorial service will be held on Sunday, Jan. 17, at 1 p.m. at the Grove building at Lakeville’s Lake Wononscopomuc. 

Memorial donations may be made to the Nichiren Buddhist organization SGI-USA (www.sgi-usa.org); the Salisbury Visiting Nurse Association; and the Sharon Fire Department Ambulance Squad. 

The family would like to thank Woody’s caregiver, Joseph Adjetey, from Companions and Homemakers in Litchfield, Janet Carlson of the One Eleven Group, Donna DiMartino  of Salisbury Visiting Nurse Association’s Hospice and Karin Wexler (for her massage and reiki); they were truly Woody’s bodhisattvas in the last days of his life.

Arrangements are under the care of the Kenny Funeral Home in Sharon. Remembrances and photos can be posted at www.forevermissed.com on Woody’s page.