General Joseph P. Hoar , USMC (Ret) ( Joe) passed away on September 17, 2022 following an infection related to Alzheimer’s He was 87. Joe was born in Boston, MA and attended Boston College High School and Tufts University, joining the Marine Corps prior to the draft. Getting to California for his first duty after Basic School, he called Charlie saying, “You’ve gotta get out here, you won’t believe your eyes!” He loved living in California!

As a Marine infantry officer,he held a broad range of command and staff assignments, commanding all levels from platoon to regiment. At night, he earned a MA degree from The George Washington University. He also commanded three Marine Corps Air Ground Task Forces.

Joe was the Deputy for Operations for the Marine Corps during the first Gulf War, and prior to that, General Schwarzkopf’s Chief of Staff at Central Command at Tampa, FL. For his last assignment, he was the Commander in Chief of the U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM), the unified command that has the planning and operational responsibilities for nineteen countries of the Middle East, South Asia, and the Horn of Africa.

Highlights of his tenure included enforcing the naval embargo in the Red Sea and the Persian Gulf and the no-fly zone in the south of Iraq, the humanitarian and peacekeeping operations in Kenya and Somalia, support for operations in Rwanda, and the evacuation of U.S. civilians from Yemen during the 1994 civil war.

Since retirement Joe formed a consulting firm engaged in business development in the Middle East and Africa. He was a former director of Hawaiian Airlines, and Kuwait Dynamics Ltd, former Chairman of the Board of Military Officers Association of America, and a former Trustee of Suffolk University in Boston. He was a Director of the Center for Naval Analysis, Washington, DC, the Marines Memorial Assoc. in SF, and Chairman of the Advisory Board for the National Security Studies Program at Syracuse University.

Joe lived in Del Mar, CA,with his wife, Charlie He was preceded in death by his grandson, Joseph Naim Salah, and survived by his five adult children, seven grandchildren and one great grandson. He loved God, being with his Marines, and his family. He enjoyed travel, reading, the theater and music, participating in sports and exercise.

There will be a funeral mass at St. James Church (625 South Nardo Ave. Solana Beach) at 10 AM on Friday, October 7, followed by an interment Honors service at Miramar National Cemetery at 1:15 pm. Address: 5795 Nobel Drive, San Diego. Cemetery regulations request no flowers. Guests are asked to arrive at the cemetery 15 minutes prior to the start time. All are invited to Miramar Officers Club following the Honors service for refreshment and camaraderie.

The family wants to thank the staffs and caregivers at Silverado Memory Care and Silverado Hospice for their unfailing kindness and care while Joe was with them.