Friendship of 50 years recognized in scholarship

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Bart Guerreri ’67 and Edward Hoffmann ’69

Their friendship would span more than 49 years, starting at RIT, and being commemorated after their passing this summer. The families of Edward Hoffmann ’69 (electrical engineering) and Bart Guerreri ’67 (mechanical engineering) created a new RIT scholarship recently, naming it after the two longtime friends.

The new Edward G. Hoffmann and Bart G. Guerreri Scholarship will be awarded to promising engineering students with financial need, a circumstance familiar to both men, who despite financial hardships became successful entrepreneurs and leaders.

“The struggle was well worth it. Both men achieved unimaginable success,” says Frank Hermance, RIT Trustee, friend and fraternity brother. “Their mutual passion for knowledge, creativity and hard work, as well as their out-going personalities, drew them to each other. They shared a friendship that lasted a lifetime.”

The Sigma Pi fraternity brothers remained in touch throughout their lives, participating in personal, professional and RIT events together. On Aug. 10, Hoffmann succumbed to pancreatic cancer. A week later, Guerreri passed away after a lengthy battle with cancer.

After graduation, Hoffmann became a flight test engineer at McDonnell Douglas in California. He moved up the ranks from Flight Test Group Leader to Program Manager, eventually becoming the company’s senior vice president, working with national and international aeronautical companies to develop commercial airplanes such as the DC-10 and military jets including the U.S. Navy’s T45TS Jet Pilot Training System. Hoffmann was among the international teams sent to Lockerbie, Scotland, to recover and examine the “black box” from the downed Pan American Flight 103 in 1988. Outside of work, he supported the Make-A-Wish Foundation, enjoyed restoring classic Corvettes and boating. He is survived by his wife, Margaret Bowker Hoffmann ’68 (business).

Guerreri began his career at Raytheon as a design engineer and project manager, working on advanced logic units for IBM’s mainframe computers. In 1978, he formed DSD Laboratories, specializing in information security, business process reengineering and knowledge management. In the early years of the company, he was the only employee, assembling circuit boards in his basement with the help of his wife, Andrea. With more than 30 patents in his name, he has been honored in Who’s Who in America, served on the Dean’s Committee for International Development at Harvard’s John F. Kennedy School of Government and on the Committee on Capital Formation for Small Business. He was named Distinguished Alumni of the Year by the Kate Gleason College of Engineering and also was a member of the RIT Board of Trustees.

Contributions to the scholarship fund can be made through RIT’s Office of Development either by mail or online. (Follow the prompts online designating Make a Gift and Special Named Scholarship Funds, selecting Hoffmann/Guerreri.)