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A longtime musician and tattoo artist, Hogie was a Morristown native and lived in Ogdensburg, his social media page says. His death comes less than a week after a musical benefit held in his honor at the Laundromat in Morristown.
Despite having 15 years of auto experience under his belt, Hogie combined his musical passion with his employment at the Music Den in Randolph, which posted a touching tribute on social media:
“We want to say rest in peace to one of The Music Den’s closest friends — Steve Hogan,” reads the tribute. “He was truly a person that you met and didn’t forget. A funny, charming, kind and incredibly talented individual. He lives on forever at the den.”
Hogie spent time performing throughout North Jersey bars like Shanghai Jazz, even continuing guitar performances throughout his chemotherapy treatments after his initial pancreatic cancer diagnosis, according to a profile detailing his valiant battle from MorristownGreen.
But perhaps equally as heroic as Hogie’s resilience throughout his treatments was his unwavering ability to make “all the fear of cancer…completely go away” from other chemotherapy patients after he started playing at his infusion centers, seemingly arbitrarily, the outlet adds. He brought his guitar inside one time to keep it from cold temperatures, was asked to perform, and it became an instant routine that instilled life and hope into patients while making them forget their pain.
Meanwhile, more than $19,000 had been raised on a GoFundMe Hogie himself created for his wife, Amanda Zeiher’s future expenses in late February as his cancer began to spread once again.
“My goal is to try to make sure that she is provided for,” wrote Hogie. “I’ve realized that the bodies we live in are only rented space. We don’t write the lease terms. We simply sign it. And eventually, we all get an eviction notice…My hope is to at least give my beautiful, and amazingly talented wife some security in a time where the burdens are crushing.”
Zeiher left a heart-wrenching tribute to Hogie on Facebook following his passing:
“…when I lost you piece by piece these last few days, each ‘last time’ tore a new hole in me,” Zeiher wrote. “The hole is so big now I don’t know how I’ll ever fill it."
"You’ve left me surrounded by amazing people, and I promised you I would keep living in a way that if you could see me, you’d be happy and proud. I intend to keep that promise.”
Finally, the ‘6 Degrees of Hogie’ Facebook page was created to share live performances and additional stories honoring Hogie’s everlasting legacy of music and friendship. It has amassed more than 400 members in under a week.
Hogie’s funeral arrangements were pending.
“You made your exit surrounded by friends, loved and cared for, and it’s all I could have hoped for you,” writes Zeiher. “I’ll find you again someday, and until then, please know that I love you, and I carry you with me always.”
Click here to view/donate to the ‘Amanda and Hogie Relief Fund’ on GoFundMe.
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