Lorenzo Hoopes (born 1913) is as of January 2010 the head of the Paramount Theatre Board in Oakland, California. The Paramount Theatre is a public institution with a board that appoints new members, with the consent of the city council and mayor, but in the past the decisions of the board have always been upheld. Hoopes is also believed to be the person in Oakland who donated the largest amount of money to the Yes on Proposition 8 campaign, which has caused some to seek to oust Hoopes from his unpaid volunteer position with the Paramount Theatre. He has been on the board for the theatre for nearly 30 years.
Hoopes grew up in Brigham City, Utah and graduated from Box Elder High School. Hoopes received his bachelors degree from Weber State University and also studies at the University of Utah. He has an MBA from Pepperdine University and did advanced management training at Harvard Business School.
Hoopes was serving as bishop of the Oakland California Ward that included where the Oakland Temple now is when the ground was broken for the first LDS meetinghouse on that general site in about 1957.[1] He later also served as president of the LDS Church's Oakland California Stake.
Hoopes spent much of his career as an executive for Safeway. When he retired in 1979 he was the senior vice president at Safeway. He had taken a leave of absence from Safeway back in 1953 to serve as executive assistant to United States Secretary of Agriculture Ezra Taft Benson. Hoopes returned to Safeway in 1955.
Hoopes served at various times as chairman of the National Dairy Council and Chairman of the Foundation for American Agriculture.
Hoopes is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS). Hoopes served as president of the England Bristol Mission of the LDS Church from 1979-1982. He served as president of the Oakland Temple from 1985-1990.
Hoopes served for 17 years as a member of the Oakland School board.
Hoopes' wife, Stella Bobbies Sorenson Hoopes, died on Jan. 14, 1996. Among Hoopes' children is David C. Hoopes and Janet Hoopes (deceased).