Milton Hoffman

Milt Hoffman, a former reporter and editor for The Journal News who wrote for decades about Westchester County politics and retired as the county's preeminent journalist, died Tuesday at his home in Greenburgh. He was 86.

Hoffman officially retired in 2002 after 50 years with the newspaper. He started in 1951 in the county news bureau of Westchester County Publishers in White Plains, a precursor to The Journal News, and served in numerous capacities over the decades. He covered county and state government, was a columnist and metro editor and served as voice of the newspaper as editorial page editor.

After retiring, Hoffman used his expertise and extensive knowledge of government to help Greenburgh, and the county. He was a driving force behind the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee, and was instrumental in creating oversight of the Fairview Fire District. He also served on advisory committees, helping with town budgets and historical preservation.

"It's a tremendous, tremendous loss for the town of Greenburgh, and the whole county," said Greenburgh Town Supervisor Paul Feiner, who knew Hoffman since he was 7 or 8. "It's not possible that someone had as much institutional knowledge as he had about Westchester County."

Feiner knew Hoffman since his days in Hebrew school, and said he was "a good person ... the type of person who wanted to make things better. He didn't have an agenda, he would just tell it as it is."

Susan Schwarz of Tarrytown worked more recently with Hoffman on the Westchester County Fair Campaign Practices Committee

"Milt was our dearest friend and colleague who contributed so much to the fabric of our community," she said. "He never stopped looking for ways to promote democracy."

Lawmakers recalled his sense of fairness.

"Elected officials whom he covered for more than five decades knew him to be thorough, accurate, honest, dedicated and, most of all, fair," U.S. Rep. Nita Lowey, D-Harrison. "Milt loved Westchester – its history, politics, and people – and continued playing an active role in our community after he retired from the newspapers."

Hoffman was known as a gracious colleague who was never too busy to share his expertise.

"In his soul, Milt was a street reporter. He was instinctive, smelled when news was breaking, had countless contacts, could work the phones and write fast in his pad while on the beat," said Arthur Gunther, former Rockland editorial page editor for The Journal News who worked with him for decades.

"Milt, despite his street smarts, was a gracious fellow, a matter of fact, a roll-up-the-sleeves editor, but willing to push his desk papers aside for a personal chat. He made many a kid a true newspaperman through personal guidance."