Seymour Hoffman was the district surgeon and later a general practitioner. He was an essential part of both the Jewish community and the broader Vryburg community. He arrived in Vryburg in 1946 after completing an 18-month internship at Congella Hospital for Bantu and Indians in Durban. He was joined in Durban and Vryburg by his UCT classmate and friend C.J. (Stollie) Smit. The two served in the public health care system before establishing private practices. Dr. Hoffman left Vryburg in 1956.

 

Seymour Hoffman was born on November 11, 1920, and raised in Paarl. After graduating from Paarl Boys High, he studied medicine at UCT, completing his degree in 1944. He was the second son of Louis Hoffman and Emily Hoffman (nee Cohen). Emily and Louis had three sons: Sydney Godfrey, nicknamed Bom, born in Johannesburg in 1918; Seymour; and Jack (Harold Jacob), born in 1922 in Paarl.

 

Louis Hoffman was born in Rezekne in Latvia. Part of the Hoffman family migrated to America in the 1880's. Louis’s father Abraham and his wife Slata stayed behind to handle the family affairs. As the situation for Jews worsened in Eastern Europe, Abraham moved to South Africa and later sent for his son Louis and the rest of his family. Louis's siblings included Rose (who married a Rechtman), Isidor, and Seymour. Seymour died a bachelor in the Belgian Congo at age 30 in 1918. Seymour Hoffman was likely named after him.  

 

Emily Cohen’s family came from Courland. She was the daughter of Rachel (nee Kahn) and Zalman Joel Cohen, who had twelve children. The family moved to Alexandria in the Eastern Cape, near Kenton on Sea. The Gluckman family from Courland was also located there. Emily Cohen and Louis Hoffman met in Clocolan in the Orange Free State; Harry was working in Heilbron at the time. They married in Johannesburg in 1917 and settled in Paarl, where they built their lives.

 

Whilst on a visit to Vryburg in 1950 Louis Hoffman passed away. He was an asthmatic and hoped that a Vryburg stay and the “drier climate of the Kalahari might be beneficial for his condition.” Sadly, his ailing health was compromised by acute pneumonia which led to his death. Following his father’s death Seymour Hoffman planned a two-year sabbatical, to pursue post-graduate studies.

 

In 1952, he began a degree in general medicine at the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh University. Seymour obtained a Diploma in Child Health from the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons. He then completed internships at the Rotunda Maternity Hospital in Dublin and Hammersmith Hospital in London. After returning to Vryburg, Seymour Hoffman remained for an additional three years before moving to Cape Town, where he worked in private practice. He later took a position as an anesthetist at Somerset Hospital.

 

Seymour decided to pursue a career in anesthesiology due to a pressing need for anesthetists in Israel. He enrolled in a three-year anesthesiology program at UCT and moved to Israel in 1961. After completing his training, he joined the anesthetic department at Beilinson Hospital, where he met his future wife, Ronit. Later, he transferred to Meir Hospital in Kfar Saba. Together, Ronit and Seymour had two children, Yeela and Aviad. Throughout his career, Seymour played a pivotal role in the development and evolution of Meir Hospital.

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