Owensboro business icon and philanthropist David Hocker has died at the age of 86. His legacy, including the development of Wesleyan Park Plaza in 1964, has forever changed the landscape of the city.
Hocker was born in Owensboro in 1938 to Talmage and Margaret Hocker. Talmage taught school for 16 years at Owensboro Public Schools before leaving the profession to become a homebuilder, while Margaret was a homemaker.
Hocker had three children: Valeria (Ball), Margaret (Johnson), and Talmage, who he named after his father.
“Dad was a great man and a bundle of energy,” Talmage said. “He loved people and enjoyed speaking to everyone. It was exciting to have him as a dad, and I always wanted to grow up to be just like him.”
As a child, Hocker enjoyed attending church and playing sports, but more than anything, he enjoyed accompanying his father to job sites. He delivered papers and mowed grass for a while before enrolling at Kentucky Wesleyan College and the Army Reserves in 1956. During that time, he handled the accounting for his father’s business.
He quickly expanded his knowledge to construction and had an epiphany when he and Talmage returned home after visiting with a retired real estate Kroger executive, Mel Harvin, from Louisville. They discussed how to utilize the property that Talmage had pieced together on Frederica Street.
The result of the conversation was Wesleyan Park Plaza.
“It all started when we opened Wesleyan Park Plaza in 1964, and I still enjoy thinking about ways to make it even better,” Hocker’s daughter Valeria read on his behalf at a recent Owensboro Business Hall of Fame Induction. “The commercial real estate has changed over the decades with the emergence of so many big box stores and competition from the internet. But, one constant throughout my career has been that superior location and convenience will always be in style.”
Hocker developed over 40 shopping centers with over 14 million square feet of retail space across 13 states. Pair that with over 1,000 apartments in Florida and Illinois, 40 Long John Silver’s, Wendy’s, Bojangles, and Rite Aids.
David Hocker and Associates grew into a top-50 national owner, manager, and developer of shopping centers. During that growth, the company was pushed to relocate to a larger city, but Hocker knew where home was.
“He was Kentucky Wesleyan through and through,” Talmage said of his father. “He loved Owensboro and knew it was where he wanted to raise a family. He had developed a large business and had opportunities to move, but it was where he was raised and educated and where his friends and family were.”
Talmage recalled being a child and playing with friends in his dad’s office. They would often sit in his chair and act like businessmen. He also reminisced about a family ski vacation, where he told his dad, “When we get to this low place, let’s jump.”
“‘One – two – three – go,’” Talmage said to his pops. Talmage stayed seated while his father jumped and lost his daily lift privileges. He said his dad was always the prankster, so it was only fair to get him back occasionally.
“He loved to play jokes on people and was always the life of the party,” he said. “He and my mother, Mary Jane, started hosting dances at KWC, which wasn’t allowed until then. He had everyone dancing. He was a leader in that way and never missed an opportunity to enjoy himself at a party.”
According to Talmage, Hocker was also quite a political enthusiast. He remembers witnessing some heated debates at the Cambell Club with other esteemed members of society like Don Moore and John Hager. Even though they sat on opposite sides of the aisle, Talamage said it was common ground for them to share a table at lunch to discuss politics.
Talmage was diagnosed with leukemia on January 1 of this year, and despite his father battling his own struggles, he said he was always there for him.
“I was in Indiana for treatment for several months, but I was sure to talk to him every day,” he said. “He was always inspiring me and lifting me up. All he could talk about was getting me home.”
Talmage returned home on Wednesday but was unable to visit his father in the hospital because of his compromised condition.
“Later in life, he got close to Christ,” Talmage said. “It was really neat to watch his transformation and his love for Christ grow. I can promise you he was prepared for this day. He didn’t want it to come so early, but he was prepared.”
