Biosketch
A retired vice president of engineering at NyPro Inc., Rick Hoeske now gives back to the university that prepared him for a successful career. He is an active alumni volunteer and assists with the Omicron Pi Scholarship, along with hosting regional alumni events both in Florida and on Cape Cod. He has attended over 100 UML alumni events since 2005, and he served as a campaign cabinet member for the Our Legacy, Our Place fundraising campaign.
Hoeske earned a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Management from Lowell Tech in 1966. As a student, he was president of his freshman class, president of his Omicron Pi fraternity and a member of the Lowell Tech men’s basketball team. Before Lowell, he took an apprentice program as a tool die and mold maker for plastic parts, which served as a launchpad for his career. He credits Prof. Ernie James with being an outstanding advisor to the Opi fraternity. Hoeske now mentors Omicron Pi students to help them with their journeys. He works with professional and nonprofit organizations such as Plastics Pioneers Association and the Boys & Girls Club of Leominster, Fitchburg and Gardner to encourage students to attend UMass Lowell.
Hoeske and his wife, Chris, are generous donors to the university. Their gifts include the Richard J. Hoeske Plastics Engineering Endowed Scholarship Fund and contributions to the Cape Cod Scholarship and Omicron Pi Fund. For their generous support, they were inducted into the university’s Circle of Honor in 2018.
In 2003, with his support, Nypro funded the renovation of a laboratory in UML’s Ball Hall to create the Nypro Precision Injection Molding Laboratory. He retired from the company in 2005.
The Hoeskes have residences in Bolton and West Yarmouth, Massachusetts, and Bonita Springs, Florida. They have three children and five grandchildren.