Hoffman's Resignation

On his ranch in Pasadena, Calif.--where he has lived off & on since 1911--Paul Hoffman spent a weekend mulling over a big problem. The trustees of the $500 million Ford Foundation, of which he was president, had decided that foundation headquarters should be moved from Pasadena to Manhattan, to be closer to the center of most foundation enterprises.

Hoffman agreed in principle. But, at 61, he was reluctant to tie himself to a full-time job away from his wife, family and grandchildren. One morning last week, Hoffman telephoned Henry Ford II in Detroit, and resigned.

As Hoffman's interim successor, the Ford Foundation trustees selected H. (for Horace) Rowan Gaither Jr., 43, San Francisco lawyer, board chairman of the nonprofit Rand Corp. (scientific research), and onetime assistant director of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology's radiation laboratory. Gaither has been a Ford Foundation adviser since 1948.

Hoffman was promptly elected chairman of the board of the Studebaker Corp. As soon as Studebaker's directors heard of his resignation from the Ford Foundation, they offered him the office and desk he left (as Studebaker president) in 1948 to become Harry Truman's ECAdministrator. Hoffman accepted, will commute to the Studebaker main plant in South Bend, Ind., do part of his work at the branch plant in Los Angeles--and keep his residence in Pasadena.

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