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Will Hoffman and his son, Liam

Industry Spotlight > Advisors

Pittsburgh Advisor Is Running for a Cause 

By Jeff Berman

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An advisor who founded Private Advisor Group-affiliated firm Hoffman Wealth Management in Pittsburgh will run in the New York City Marathon on Sunday for a cause he says is close to his heart.

Will Hoffman’s son Liam was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis (NF) — a group of incurable genetic conditions that cause tumors to grow on nerves throughout a person’s body — at age 10.

Now 12 and in seventh grade, Liam needs more learning support and has more doctor’s visits than his classmates, but wants others with NF to know they aren’t alone, according to his father, who quotes Liam summing up his condition as he just “walks differently” than other kids.

An avid runner for “about a little over a decade now,” Hoffman said he’s already run the Chicago and Pittsburgh marathons for the same cause.

The Hoffman family also raised $8,000 in a bocce tournament for this Sunday’s race, which Will is running with the Children’s Tumor Foundation NF Endurance Team. The foundation gives participants the opportunity to run, bike or swim in endurance events across the U.S., including ones that are sold out, it says at its website.

“I’ve been in the financial services profession for over 21 years,” Hoffman told ThinkAdvisor in a phone interview. After starting with Prudential, he decided to go independent and became affiliated with Private Advisor Group and LPL Financial in December 2011, he said.

“Liam was diagnosed with neurofibromatosis in 2021,” Hoffman said. Since then, a local clinic has been “very helpful to our family [and] we got involved with their fundraising effort,” he said. 

The Hoffman family also “made it our mission to get our local clinic listed as an affiliated charity that folks could run for and raise money through,” he said. And, through those efforts, “the Children’s Tumor Foundation … reached out to us,” he recalled. 

 Fundraising & Racing

The Foundation “asked me to get involved with the Chicago Marathon … So I fundraised and ran that and then wanted to get involved with the New York City Marathon this year,” he added.

Liam was selected as the “NF Hero” for this year’s recent Chicago Marathon, Will noted. NF Heroes motivate endurance event participants throughout their training  via emails, letters, photos and videos.

Hoffman is collecting donations for Sunday’s race. So far, he has raised $7,836 in connection to the New York City Marathon, while all NYC marathoners running to fight NF have raised $139,180, according to Hoffman.

A diagnosis like NF “doesn’t always have to be bad,” Hoffman said. “You can use something like this to help change the world, and that’s kind of the example we’re trying to set.” This Sunday, “my personal goal is to run under a four-hour marathon,” he went on to say, noting it would be the first time he’s been able to do that. “It seems to be the unicorn I’ve been chasing.” 

Cheering him on will be Liam, as well as Hoffman’s wife, Jamie, and Liam’s brothers, Miles, 7, and Nolan, 5.

Whether Hoffman achieves his goal for the Marathon this Sunday or not, the prognosis for Liam is good.

Every indication is that “he should live a long, healthy life,” said Hoffman. “He does have some challenges. He just had a procedure in April … to lengthen his Achilles tendon, fix his plantar fascia muscle and his foot.” 

One potential result from NF is that the “fibromyalgia will grow on the optic nerve and cause blindness,” Hoffman said, adding NF “doesn’t fight fair, but neither do I.”

Pictured: Will Hoffman and his son Liam.

Jeff Berman

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