Gary Hofmeister

Most people know Gary Hofmeister from Hofmeister Personal Jewelers which he founded 36 years ago and remains the C.E.O. Prior to entering the jewelry industry, he was a professional singer/actor, salesman and health administrator. Though he says he never had one conservative professor all the way through his undergraduate studies nor his graduate work at Purdue, he has been an active conservative most of his life and was the Republican nominee for U.S. Congress in 1998 for the 10th congressional district.

Gary’s political beliefs also led him to teach Applied Economics for Junior Achievement in several high schools for 10 years. Taking it to another level in 1992, he began going to the former Soviet Union to share Democratic Capitalism and his experiences as an entrepreneur after the Berlin Wall fell. He made 18 such trips developing his own curricula and running seminars from one to three days in various cities. Most trips lasted about three weeks.

Gary also hosted a political talk show in 1990-91 called TALK OF THE CITY and another for WFYI from 2004-06 called BROADWAY MEMORIES: MUSIC AND THE STARS, drawing on his experiences as a Broadway singer.

He is married to JoAnne and together they share 20 grandchildren.