Duane L. Hoover

Duane Lofton Hoover, 87, passed away peacefully at his home surrounded by family on January 5th, 2024. The youngest son of the late Evelyn Hoover and Sherman Hoover, Duane was born in Louisville, Mississippi on January 24, 1936, before the family moved to Memphis, Tennessee when he was six years old. Duane attended Snowden Elementary School while in Memphis, TN, before later graduating from Central High School where he was an all-city performer on both the school’s football and baseball teams during his junior and senior years of high school.

Duane was a proud graduate of the Georgia Institute of Technology with a degree in Industrial Engineering, where he was a member of Georgia Tech’s football and baseball teams during his freshman year of college, as well the Sigma Chi Fraternity. Duane also attended Rhodes College for part of his undergraduate studies, and eventually completed an advanced Master’s program through Harvard University’s School of Business. Duane was also later inducted into the Georgia Tech Engineering Hall of Fame in 2008.

After serving in the United States Marine Corps., Duane had a long and distinguished professional career in business, first serving as an Assistant Vice President with the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta and First National Bank, respectively. He then started several successful businesses, which included being a Wendy’s franchisee for 50 years. Duane’s success in business led him to receive a number of different honors and awards, most notable of which were the Wendy’s Founder’s Award in 1992, and being inducted in the Wendy’s Hall of Fame in 1993.

Duane was a long-time member of Briarcliff Methodist Church and later Dunwoody Methodist Church, and was actively involved in his local community throughout his lifetime through coaching his three children in different sports growing up and teaching Sunday School, before later serving on Advisory Boards for the Wesleyan School in Peachtree Corners, Georgia and Georgia Tech for many years.

Duane married Drada Pate, of Bennettsville, South Carolina, in 1958 who he met while she was attending nearby Emory University. Drada was a loving and wonderful wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother throughout their 65 years of marriage, as well as an active member of the choir at Dunwoody United Methodist Church and the Board of Trustees of Limestone College for many years. In addition to his dearly beloved wife, Drada, Duane is also survived by his three children—Duane Lofton Hoover, Jr. (Pam), Patricia Hoover Bennett, and Carl Hayes Hoover (Paige); nine grandchildren—Reed Bennett (Katherine), Dillon Hoover, Connor Bennett (Hannah), Sayre Hoover, Carson Hoover, Lily Bennett, Lofton Hoover, Erin Hoover, and Ava Hoover; and two great-grandchildren—Reed “Lofton” Bennett, Jr. and Connor “Chip” Bennett, Jr. All of whom strongly believe in God and His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ thanks to the example Duane set for all his family on a daily basis, as he considered himself incredibly blessed by God.

Duane is preceded in death by his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Sherman Hoover; his brother, Sherman Hayes Hoover; and his sister, Patricia Hoover Burke.

The family will celebrate his life privately at this time with a small service for immediate family-only.

In lieu of flowers, please make donations to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.