WILMINGTON, N.C. — Herman Charles Hossfeld Jr. died Wednesday, June 27, 2018.

A native of Mississippi, he was born in McComb and reared in Vicksburg, graduating from Carr Central High School in 1946, where he was President of his class and Big 8 Champion of the 880 track competition.

He was a veteran of the U.S. Navy, having served for over three years, and he is a 1954 graduate of Harvard College, receiving a bachelor’s degree concentrating in government (in what the Boston Globe described as the greatest class at Harvard). Active in community and church affairs in Vicksburg, he was president of the Vicksburg Lions Club and president of the Warren County Mental Health Association.

He was a deacon and Sunday school director at the First Baptist Church.

He spent many years in journalism, working for the Louisville Courier Journal, Natchez Democrat, Tupelo Daily Journal and the Vicksburg Evening Post.

It was at the Vicksburg Evening Post where he met his wife and best friend, Betty Hall. He joined International Paper Company as their government liaison and later moved to their international headquarters in Manhattan as a public relations executive, where he worked for many years.  In 1982, he retired with his family to Wilmington, N.C.

A genuinely happy human being, he truly loved life and was acutely aware of and appreciative of his good life. He was happiest with friends and family.

He is survived by his sister, Peggy Hossfeld Teller of Vicksburg; his wife, Betty; and his three children, Mark Hossfeld and his wife, Maureen Hossfeld, Leslie Hossfeld and Chip Hossfeld and his wife, Chong Kang; and his grandson, Cassius Hossfeld.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Lower Cape Fear Hospice of Wilmington, NC.