G. Michael “Mike” Hostage II passed away peacefully at his home in Southborough, Massachusetts, on January 12, 2024, surrounded by his loving family. He was the husband of Dorothy Ann “Dot” Noll, his beloved wife of 69 years.
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1933, Mike was the eldest child of Gilmary Michael Hostage I and Dorothy Reese Hostage. He was preceded in death by his sister, Dorothy “Dody” Conner and leaves behind a sister, Kathleen Miller.
Mike grew up in Hyde Park and attended Chaminade High School in Mineola, New York, before matriculating to Cornell University, graduating from the School of Hotel Administration in 1954, and earning his Master’s in Business Administration at Cornell the following year.
Mike served in the U.S. Army before pursuing a career in sales at the Procter & Gamble Company, where he moved up the ranks. He and Dot had their first five children in four different states – New York, Texas, Pennsylvania and Maine – before his last station for P&G in Virginia.
In 1964, Mike joined the Marriott Corporation outside Washington D.C., working in the foodservice division beginning with Hot Shoppes and its Hot Shoppes, Jr. fast food offshoot, and in 1968, working with his dear friend and college baseball teammate Pete Plamondon to launch Marriott’s new fast food concept, Roy Rogers Restaurants.
In 1978, Mike left the Marriott Corporation to become CEO of Continental Baking Company – maker of Wonder Bread and Hostess Cakes – in New York, before becoming the first outside CEO of Howard Johnson Corporation in 1981.
Mike and Dot had ten children, and he was a family man first and foremost. Part of his legacy is the memories his children share of the many trips the family took in the converted Greyhound bus, most often camping in Florida at Easter break, and in Canada during summertime. The Florida trips often included a visit to Dody’s farm to visit her and the 5 cousins, Deanne, Kelly, Karen, Buddy, and Gretchen.
Mike was predeceased in 1977 by his eldest daughter, Margaret Ann “Peggy” Hostage, whose memory lives on in the hearts and minds of her siblings and was remembered by Mike daily during grace before family supper.
In addition to his devoted wife, Dot, he leaves behind nine living children: G. Michael Hostage III and his wife, Katherine Timberlake, of San Antonio, Texas; Kathleen Buice of Melbourne, Florida; Christopher Valentine Hostage and his wife, Teresa Brewer Hostage of Frederick, Maryland; Cynthia Morningstar and her husband, Karl, of Hopkinton, Massachusetts; Jeffrey Scott Hostage and his wife, Dana Nyman of Essex, Massachusetts; Jonathan Hostage and his wife, Astrid Pineiro of Southborough, Massachusetts; Thomas Andrew Hostage of Northborough, Massachusetts; Timothy Noll Hostage and his wife, Christine Graziadio of Hudson, Massachusetts; and Mary Elizabeth Peterson and her husband, Erik, of Malvern, Pennsylvania.
Mike also leaves behind 39 loving grandchildren and thirteen great-grandchildren.
A wake will be held for the family on Wednesday, January 17, and a funeral Mass will be held on Thursday, January 18 at 10:30am at St. Mathew’s Church in Southborough, Massachusetts, with burial at the Town of Southborough Rural Cemetery at 147 Cordaville Road in Southborough.
(Photo and Obituary via Morris-Johnston Funeral Home)
