Silver Owl Thomas L. Hoy, retired news photographer and association executive, dies

Thomas Larkin Hoy, an award-winning news photographer at The Washington Star who became the longtime public relations director for the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, died Oct. 20 at Sibley Hospital in Washington. Hoy, who lived in Bethesda, was 76.

He was a Silver Owl member of the Club, which he joined in the mid-1960s. He also was a former board member of the White House News Photographers Association

A native of Cincinnati, Hoy was still a student at Falls Church High School in Northern Virginia, when he joined The Star in 1953 at age 17. His twin brother, Frank Hay, who died in 2006, also worked as a photographer at The Star's cross-town rival, The Washington Post.

Perhaps the most famous of Tom Hoy's photos during his 13 years at The Star was of President John F. Kennedy, taken from the rear with the President silouetted in spotlights as he spoke at the D.C. National Guard Armory in 1962. The photo, a personal favorite of Kennedy's, was published worldwide.

Writing about that shot in Camera Works, Hoy's friend and fellow photographer Frank Van Riper said, "All six powerful spots shone on JFK in perfect symmetry, creating a dramatic pattern. Waiting to make his one shot, Tom didn't press the shutter release until Kennedy turned slightly to his right and gestured. The movement, the body language, all shouted JFK – even the spotlights acted as a rim light to accentuate the President's familiar full head of hair. Though taken from behind, there could be no doubt who was the subject of this great photograph."

Other memorable Hoy photos included a home run swing by the New York Giants' Willie Mays in 1954, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill raising his signature "V" sign during his final visit to Washington in 1959, Kennedy and Mercury astronaut John Glenn in matching profiles after Glenn's earth-orbiting mission in 1962, and First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy hugging her children at their father's grave site in 1963.

In 1966 Hoy left journalism to join the National Rural Electric Cooperative Association, where his often poignant photographs of rural America regularly appeared in the association's magazine until his retirement in 1994. He was the recipient in 1988 of the meritorious service award from the National Association of Farm Broadcasters.

Survivors include his wife Barbara; two daughters, Elizabeth Hoy Shiverick of New York City and Christine Hoy Gosnell of Potomac, MD; and five grandchildren.

A viewing is scheduled for 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 24, at Joseph Gawler's Sons at 5130 Wisconsin Avenue in Washington. A funeral Mass will be said at 10 a.m. Thursday, Oct. 25, at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church at 3513 N St. in Georgetown.