‘Very loved man’: Atwater elementary vice principal loses battle with cancer

ATWATER, Calif. (KSEE/KGPE) – The Merced County community is mourning the loss of educator Ron Hoffart. 

Ron openly battled with cancer as he served as the vice principal at Mitchell Senior Elementary in Atwater. He lost that fight in August at the age of 56. “He was such a giving man, too. He cared about people so much,” said his wife, Donna Hoffart. 

A year prior, Ron started feeling pain in his shoulder and chest. “It didn’t feel right, and so there’s something inside of him that said he needed to go to the E.R.,” Donna shared.

Doctors found a mass in his lung, diagnosing him with the most common type of lung cancer, adenocarcinoma. “He was never a smoker, so never vaped, none of that. And so, it kind of perplexed the doctors,” his wife added. 

Donna, who is also Atwater High’s psychologist, says it’s been a rough couple of years for the family. Ron’s mom passed away last September from cancer, and his dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer just before Ron’s diagnosis. “So it was like boom, boom, boom, all in a row,” Donna explained. 

The Hoffarts have been married for 28 years and have two adult boys. Donna and Ron both started their careers in education in Chico before moving to Merced County, where Ron got a job at Los Banos Unified. From there, Ron made strong impacts on the community as a school psychologist working at Merced City School District, Merced Union High School District, and taught as an adjunct professor at Merced College and Fresno Pacific University. 

“Then a few years ago, he decided to make a change, and he just wanted to have a different impact with kids.” In July of 2023, he became the assistant principal at Mitchell Senior. “Ron brought so much joy to our campus,” said Mitchell Senior Principal Diana Dietz. 

At first, he was hesitant to share his journey with students and staff. But once he did, there was an overflow of support. “We decided to kind of come up with a special Hats for Hoffart Day, and here’s why. He said he’s really vain. He was worried about losing his hair. And so we thought, we’ll just get him hats,” Principal Dietz shared. 

But not only hats to wear, the school lined the halls with colorful paper hats, each with an encouraging message. “You know, we wore white on Wednesdays. We had special pens for Ron. We had special bracelets for Ron,” Dietz added. 

But even though Ron and his community were fighting hard for his recovery, his body started shutting down. He was admitted into the hospital and passed away in late August, surrounded by family, friends, and even former students who thought of Donna and Ron as a second mom and dad. “He was a very loved man. And I’m proud. I’m proud to be his wife,” Donna said emotionally. 

This coming November, the school will host a Cancer Awareness Walkathon in Ron’s honor. They will also continue the My Story, My Strength Scholarship. Ron started this scholarship to award an 8th-grade student who has experienced a medical challenge. Last year, two students were chosen.