Obituaries

Alice Hoch (née Mayer) June 8, 1935 - February 7, 2020, longtime resident of Fremont, CA.

Devoted wife of 61 years to Dr. Melvin Hoch, mother to Richard and Deborah, grandmother to Lilah and Sophia Cohen, and Orna Hoch, loving sister to Marilyn Jacobowitz. Beloved birding expert and teacher, Alice enthusiastically led students on birdwatching outings and adventures for more than 40 years.

Born to Walter and Esther Mayer in Chicago, IL, Alice attended Roosevelt High School and earned bachelor and graduate degrees in biochemistry at the University of Illinois, graduating Phi Beta Kappa. Alice and Mel married in 1958, having known one another since grade school.

After heading west to Fort Huachuca, Arizona for Mel’s military service in 1963, the Chicago natives permanently relocated to California in 1965, where they raised their children and Alice began what became a lifelong love of birds and natural history.

She and Mel spent many happy days in Yosemite and other National Parks with their children, and later travelled widely together, taking in worldwide native plants, animals, culture and geography. She expressed no small wonder at having visited every continent, and gratitude for her ability to do so.

A Memorial Service is pending.