Timothy Hoss

Timothy (Tim) Richard Hoss, born April 21st, 1966, passed away on December 16th, 2025, after a long battle with heart and lung disease. He was surrounded by family and friends.

Tim was, in many ways, a miracle. As a two-time childhood survivor of Hodgkins Lymphoma, he was told he could never have children. Not always one to abide by the rules, he broke that one in 1999 when he had his son, Justin Hoss, with his wife Wendy Whitney. Justin was his pride and joy, and being a dad became the thing that meant most to him in life.

Outside of being a dad, Tim was best known for being a jokester, a tinkerer, and the person you would call if you needed something fixed (or directions), as well as for a variety of iconic "Tim-isms". After graduating high school in 1984, he attended Hennepin Technical College and earned his degree in machining technology in 1985. He went on to have a robust and successful career in the machine tool industry, where he was highly valued for his expertise. Oftentimes, he was one of only a few people nationally who knew how to do specialized work on certain machines.

As a man, Tim was able to experience many things and pursue many interests. For example, he traveled with his family (Jamaica and Germany being two highlights) and built a pole barn for all his tools and projects. He and Justin were working on rebuilding a 1984 Camaro. He also developed a love of theater and enjoyed attending plays. He was a man of many interests and talents and could surprise you with what he picked up next.

Tim was also an avid racing fan. Formula One was his favorite, but motorcycle, dirt track, RallyCross, dragsters, and go-carts were also on the list (basically, anything with a motor was on the list).

Around 49, Tim began to see a resurgence of health challenges, likely due to the intense cancer treatments he received as a child. Admirably, despite these challenges, he decided to "live big", going on adventures such as seeing the Foo Fighters with Justin, attending a Formula One race in Las Vegas with Justin and his dad, and making it to the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago, where he was able to see many colleagues and friends.

In 2025, after 10 years of a hard-fought battle, surrounded by loved ones, Tim finally laid down his wrench.

Tim is preceded in death by his foster brother Rusty (who he adored and was known to pull around in a wagon) and stepsister Jennifer Freude-Pratte.He is survived by his wife, Wendy Whitney, son Justin Hoss, stepdaughter Samantha Lewandowski; parents Gerald (Jerry) Hoss (Linda), Rose Ann (Rosie) Haeg (Patrick); sisters Tamara Vergin (Craig), Amanda Gregorich (Jeremy), stepsister Jackie Garcia; "brother from another mother" Mark Rahn, and many other special aunts, uncles, nieces, nephews, and friends.

Tim was many things to many people, a husband, a dad and stepdad, a son, a brother, an uncle, a nephew, an employee, and a friend. He was known for being gregarious and, as he described it, "a wealth of useless information" - though many of us benefited from the knowledge he shared with us over the years. Just as he was many things to many people, he will be missed in many ways. Rest easy, Tim (or perhaps you've already found another project to work on). You were and are so loved, and you will be so missed.

Tim's Celebration of Life will be held on Saturday, January 3rd, 2026, at ProKART Indoor Racing, from 11am to 3pm, where we will have the track reserved for an hour from 1pm to 2pm. ProKART is located at 14350 Rosemount Drive, Burnsville, MN 55306.                                        Pre-race prep begins 30 minutes ahead of when you'd like to race.                                                                                                                           Pre-registration (at the following link) is strongly encouraged: pirburnsville.clubspeedtiming.com/cs-registration (ID code: 13575).

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Children's Cancer Research Fund (childrenscancer.org).