Dennis Hofts, a longtime leader for credit union leagues in Colorado and Kansas, died in late April at the age of 87.
A cause of death was not listed in an obituary for Hofts on the website for Price Funeral Home and Monuments in Superior, Neb.
Hofts began his career as an educator, spending eight years as a teacher in Topeka, Kan. In 1962 he joined the Kansas Credit Union League, where he worked as a representative, education director, executive vice president and ultimately as president and CEO. He spent a total of 26 years with the league before moving to Arvada, Colo., in 1989. Hofts spent eight years with the Colorado Credit Union League, serving as VP of research and development until his retirement in 1997.
Along with serving on a variety of boards throughout his retirement, Hofts was inducted into the Kansas Cooperative Hall of Fame in 2010.
In a statement from the Mountain West Credit Union Association, which serves CUs in Colorado, Arizona and Wyoming, former Colorado league CEO Carroll Beach said Hofts’ “dedication to and heartfelt belief in the credit union movement was unsurpassed.”
“He truly believed the credit union movement was not only a practical but a spiritual tool to provide an avenue for the ‘up and out as well as the down and out’ to achieve greater social and financial heights through cooperation,” added Beach, who retired from the league in 2001.
Represenatives of the Heartland Credit Union Association, which serves CUs in Kansas and Missouri, also offered a tribute.
“Dennis Hofts was a true champion of credit unions and the cooperative business model,“ said Haley DaVee, executive vice president of the Heartland Credit Union Association. “He spent more than two decades serving at the Kansas Credit Union League and his dedication to the industry did not go unnoticed. He touched the lives of many and he will be truly missed.”
This story was updated at 2:54 P.M. ET on May 12 to reflect a correction in Dennis Hofts' age at the time of his death.
