HOAK – Patrick Henry Of South Buffalo, entered into rest October 5, 2018. Beloved husband of Sally J. (nee Beach) Hoak; devoted father of Randall (Angelica) Hoak, Patrick (Darla) Hoak, Timothy (Gina Kalb) Hoak, and Karen (Corey) Gottfried; cherished stepfather of Jessica (Jason) Fleischman, Rachel Anzalone, and Timothy Anzalone; adored Papa of 18 grandchildren; loving son of the late Senator Bertrand and Nora Hoak; dear brother of Bertrand Hoak, Mary Anne (Daniel) Smith, Dennis Hoak, and Dianne (Thomas) Higgins; friend and former husband of Jacqueline (nee Cooper) Hoak; also survived by many relatives and many friends.
Relatives and friends may visit the LOMBARDO FUNERAL HOME (Southtowns Chapel) 3060 Abbott Rd. near Lake Ave. on Monday and Tuesday from 2-8 PM where prayers will be said on Wednesday morning at 8:30 o’clock and a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. Martin of Tours Church at 9:30 o’clock.
Interment Nativity Cemetery. Friend of Bill W.
Patrick Henry Hoak, a former Town of Hamburg supervisor and restaurateur, died Friday in Mercy Hospital after a long illness. He was 68.
Born to Bertrand and Nora Hoak of Lackawanna in 1950, Mr. Hoak would later follow in the footsteps of his father, who was a state senator and the owner of Hoak’s Lakeshore Restaurant and Hoak’s Armor Inn in Hamburg.
Mr. Hoak attended St. Martin of Tours Elementary School and later Canisius High School and John Carroll University — alongside his friend, the late broadcast journalist Tim Russert.
At age 16, in the St. Martin Athletic League, he began what would be a lifelong baseball and basketball coaching career. He went on to mentor young athletes from Hamburg’s Junior Baseball League, St. Bernadette’s Elementary School and South Buffalo’s Notre Dame Academy.
Early in his career, he taught at St. Francis High School and the former Amsdell Middle School, both in Hamburg.
In 1977, the Hoak family opened the Armor Inn, which Mr. Hoak owned until the establishment closed in 2005.
He represented the interests of small business owners in the bar and restaurant industry as president of the Innkeepers Association of Western New York for 26 years.
Mr. Hoak owned a competitive harness racing horse, Bay’s Fella. In 1990, with Bay’s Fella a 60-to-1 long shot, he won the Breeder’s Crown Open Pace race.
Mr. Hoak first ran for public office in 1983 in an unsuccessful bid for the Erie County Legislature.
In 1987, he won election to the Hamburg Town Council, and became Hamburg town supervisor in 1992. He served as supervisor until 2005.
Known for his jokes and colorful stories, Mr. Hoak was a natural behind the bar and, after his retirement from public service, returned to bartending at Hoak’s Lakeshore Restaurant, now owned by his cousins.
Mr. Hoak’s son, Randall Hoak, described his father on Facebook as “a giant of a man” who “shared love and understanding through his actions, and when necessary, through spoken word.”
Erie County Comptroller Stefan Mychajliw, in a statement released after Mr. Hoak’s death, called Mr. Hoak “a great man with the soul of a servant.”
“Anywhere a loving heart or compassionate presence was needed to lift others up, Pat Hoak was there to help,” Mychajliw wrote.
