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Garry Hoyt, visionary sailor and advertising executive, passed away peacefully at home in Newport, Rhode Island on March 31, 2025. He was 93 years old.
Garry’s first career was with the leading global advertising and marketing agency of Young & Rubicam in New York City. After a short time, he was promoted to Senior Vice President and Creative Director, to lead business operations and creative services for all Y&R offices in San Juan, Puerto Rico, Latin America and the Far East.
The twenty-five years spent in the Caribbean allowed him to focus on his favorite sport of sailing during his free time. He represented Puerto Rico in the Olympic Games in Mexico, 1968, Germany, 1972, and Canada, 1976. In St. Thomas, USVI (1970), he became the first Sunfish World Champion. During his years of competitive sailing, he won many trophies in the Caribbean Ocean Racing Circuit and in later years at the Nantucket Yacht Club.
Garry retired from Y&R after 25 years to pursue his unwavering passion for sailing. He moved to Newport, RI in 1980 where he began his second career. He founded Freedom Yachts and for the next twenty-five years he was a yacht designer and innovative entrepreneur.
He was honored with Sail Magazine’s 1999 Award for innovation and in 2001 their Award for Industry Leadership. To acknowledge his many accomplishments, he was inducted into the Barnegat Bay Sailing Hall of Fame in 2008 and the National Sailing Hall of Fame in 2022.
Garry was the inventor and owner of ten patents. He was the author of five books, his first being ‘Go For The Gold’, written in 1971. He was the architect behind countless designs under the Freedom Yachts, Escape, and Alerion brands.
In the words of Bill Schanen, Publisher and Editor of Sailing Magazine, “These boats were the brainchild of one of the most innovative minds in the world of sailing, that of Garry Hoyt. This hard-core sailing competitor and savvy businessman had a single cause: to make sailing Swifter, Safer and Simpler. He was a World Champion Sailor, Olympic competitor, Yacht Designer, widget Inventor and book author. Garry Hoyt was an authentic Renaissance man of sailing, indeed.”
Garry was born in Elizabeth, NJ to Robert T. and Frances M. (Garrison) Hoyt on April 7, 1931. He was predeceased by his parents and former wife, Patricia T. Hoyt. Garry grew up in Plainfield, NJ. The family summered in Beachwood, NJ and were members of the Beachwood Yacht Club, where Garry learned to sail at the age of 8.
He graduated from Plainfield High School Class of 1948 and Colgate University Class of 1952. He was Captain of the swim team at both schools. This was followed by service to his country in the United States Coast Guard. In 1956 he earned a graduate degree from American Institute of Foreign Trade, now named Thunderbird School of Global Management in Phoenix, Arizona.
Garry was a member of The New York Yacht Club, the Nantucket Yacht Club, the Ida Lewis Yacht Club, the Storm Trysail Club and the Naval War College Foundation.
He leaves his wife of 43 years, Donna Robinson Hoyt, his sister-in-law, Janet L. Robinson, his children: Mary C. Brittingham (David) of Washington, DC, Jeffrey T. Hoyt (Yolanda) of Boynton Beach, FL, Eric G. Hoyt (Lilian) of Fort Lauderdale, FL, five grandchildren, four great grandchildren, his brothers, Robert T. Hoyt, Jr. of Newtown Square, PA and Timothy S. Hoyt of Pine Beach, NJ, several nieces, nephews and cousins.
The Memorial Observance will be private. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations can be made to Sail Newport or the National Sailing Hall of Fame, both of which are in Newport, RI.
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