Jerry Taylor Hoffman

May 3, 1959 – July 6, 2026

Jerry Taylor Hoffman, (né Gerald Taylor Root) was born May 3, 1959, in Whittier, California, at Los Angeles Maywood Hospital. He was the fourth child of Fred and Betty Root, delivered — like all six of Betty’s children — by their beloved Dr. “Aunt” Evelyn Burkholder.

As a boy, Jerry loved wearing his six-gun holsters and his black cowboy hat. He loved puddles, streams, gutters, creeks, ponds, the ocean, and swimming pools — and whenever we encountered one of these bodies of water, Jerry would wind up wet. As a toddler, he would grab sticks and pretend to fish. Once, on a family car trip before he could even speak in full sentences, we stopped to rest near a meadow, where Jerry discovered a clear, purling creek. He jumped right in, crying out, “Oh my hot rod! Oh my rot rod!” as his stick floated downstream before he could climb out of the water to retrieve it.

Eventually he learned to catch fish with a real fishing rod. He loved fishing and being near the water all his life, and he swam in his pool until the day he passed.

He loved playing “cars” with his sister Myrth, who patiently sat with him and their little brother Richard for hours, setting up winding roads and making motor sounds as they imagined themselves driving.

Jerry loved watching things grow and planted a garden wherever he could. A pumpkin vine he planted in Uncle Dayton and Auntie Mac’s backyard garden produced a pumpkin of more than 70 pounds. He bragged that his squash were bigger than the state-fair winners. Even a concrete backyard couldn’t stop him — he planted an avocado tree in a hole he sledgehammered into the ground, and it grew bigger than the house. He remembered fondly summers spent on Uncle Emmett’s walnut farm and floating on the King river.

Jerry was very athletic. Beyond the usual childhood outdoor games, he was a state champion pole vaulter — and last we knew, his trophy was still in the case at South Hills High School. He could walk on his hands without ever falling, even on the sandy beach. He taught himself to walk a wire, pass juggle, and eat fire, thinking he and his best friend Scott might travel the world as a circus high-wire act.

Instead, he fell in love with Anna. Together they had Vince and Katie, and he unofficially adopted Anna’s daughter, Cheryl, loving her as his own. Those first years of marriage were hard. Jerry was a new father at only 23, working the night shift at the Alpha Beta grocery store while Anna worked at her sister Cookie’s, bakery and later decorating cakes at Vons. Jerry and Anna were often on opposite schedules, so they left each other love notes.

Even so, their house was the place everyone gathered — every Christmas, every Thanksgiving. Anna and Jerry both came from big families, and they loved hosting. Jerry became a master of the barbecue, with creative sauces, delicious salmon on cedar planks, and, one Thanksgiving, a turkey roasted underground. But his Tri-tips and Barbecued Turkey were most requested. Anna decorated all the cakes.

In the 80s Jerry started his own painting and drywall company and became a master of his trade, smoothing walls to perfection. He developed a friendship with his brother-in-law Mark, they worked on houses together, played horseshoes together, and raised their kids together. They loved camping at Shaver Lake and fishing at June Lake. Jerry even stayed with Mark during a rough patch in his marriage, and Mark encouraged Jerry to get sober. A message Jerry took to heart and started going to AA.

If you knew Jerry at all, you knew what a big heart he had. He would do anything to help his family, his friends, and even strangers, and he could be generous to a fault. His kindness changed his little brother’s life: when their stepfather kicked 17-year-old Richard out of the house, Jerry took him in without hesitation, and his love and support allowed Richard to find a job and finish high school. When his sister Linda was recovering from cancer surgery, Jerry stayed at her home for over a week to help. And alongside his best friend Chaz, Jerry helped the homeless get back on their feet, even opening his home to help them transition.

When his youngest was seven, the family moved to a house with a pool because she shared his love of the water. The move also brought them closer to the ocean, where Jerry could fish weekly and fulfill his dream of owning a boat. Jerry, Vince, and Katie fished together often — first off the rocks at Dana Point, then from their boat, and even on some deep-sea adventures. Working side by side with their dad on projects around the house — roofing, building planters, drywall, painting, and, of course, searching the garage for that one thing he needed — Vince and Katie came to know his creative mind for finding a solution to any problem, lovingly termed “Jerry-rigged”.

At fifteen years old, Vince started working with his dad at HVAC Mechanical, where Jerry taught Vince to work with his hands and read plans like the best of them. Together, they hung thousands of feet of ducting, many of which were similar to the ones you see in the Die Hard movies. Building these air conditioning systems in, skyscrapers, space manufacturers, warehouses, and industrial buildings all over the Los Angeles, Orange, and San Diego counties, allowed Jerry and his son to see many beautiful sun rises from places most people will never know.

Jerry had a sometimes stinging sense of humor and a love of practical jokes — like digging ditches at the beach, covering them over, and watching with delight as hapless passersby fell in. Jerry gave his all to everything he did. He worked as hard as he played, and though he wore himself out physically at a relatively young age, he vowed never to grow up — and he kept that vow.

He loved Anna devotedly until she passed in 2019. Afterward, he visited her gravesite every morning for years, tending the plants and flowers that decorated her headstone, until his health declined. In his grief he found a deep faith, rooted in prayer and in watching a TV pastor named Les Feldick.

Jerry always shared a love for Cowboys and Indians with his brother Nick, later in life the two would meet for breakfast and head out to the desert for target practice.

Jerry was so proud of his kids and grandchildren. Despite his growing pain and difficulty walking, he showed up with a smile to every family event, every beach day, every one of his grandkids’ recitals, and all of his grandson’s hockey and flag football games. He even helped his daughter build a block wall at her house and answered her every question about drywall.

His last adventure was a road trip up north to his sister Linda’s lake house — kids, grandkids, and his faithful dog, Ruggar, in tow. Just about a week before he passed, he got to be with his family, on the water, one more time.

We will miss you, dear brother, father, grandfather, and friend.

Praise God, he is in the arms of Jesus with his beloved Anna Banana.

Jerry is survived by his children, Cheryl Pamplin, Vince Hoffman, and Katie Swanstrom; his grandchildren, Evelyn and Isabel Hoffman, and Kira and Berrett Swanstrom, and his siblings Nick Hoffman, Linda Dorosh, Myrth Boozer, and Richard McCune. He was preceded in death by his wife, Anna Hoffman (Kanowsky), and his half-sister, Elizabeth (“Lizzy”).