James Robert Hoyt, 88, passed away in the early morning hours of Saturday, February 21, 2026,at the Sharon Lane Health and Rehab Facility in Shawnee, Kansas. A long-time Kansas City area businessman, with extensive experience in many fields, Jim worked hard, with new projects in mind, until he was physically unable, just a few months before his death.

Born in Wichita, Jim was the son and eldest child of Jessie Ella Spencer and Merrill W. Hoyt, an executive at Faultless Starch. He and his sister Julie grew up on the water at Lake Quivira, outside Kansas City, Kansas. They lived the 1950s teenage lifestyle to its fullest out of Merrill and Jess’s Shawnee limestone fortress on the lake, usually in the company of their fellow sibling best friends, Ro and Price Haren. Jim took up sailing among other athletic pursuits and competed regularly in small boat regattas for five decades, locally, regionally, and nationally, initially with his sister for a crew. His specialty was the Snipe class, a 15-and-half foot 2-person yacht that was popular on lakes around the world. Jim raced regularly in the Heart of America Snipe Regatta and other sanctioned events, served as an official of the national Snipe class organization, and regularly contended for the Commodore’s Cup at the Lake Quivira Sailing Club, where he was an active member long after he lived there.

Jim began his business career early. In 1959, as a sophomore at the College of Emporia, he opened the Pizza Cellar in an old church while he still lived in the college dorms. He had just gotten engaged to fellow student Carolyn Cruikshank, from Granada, Colorado, and shifted his interests away from further education. They married later that same year. By 1963, when daughter Suzanne came along, the Pizza Cellar had been remodeled with cedar shingles into a stylishly rustic California-style eatery, with multiple take-out locations around town. Jim sold the restaurant and launched into a long series of other enterprises. His first stop was insurance, where he rose quickly at the American Home Life Insurance Company in Topeka, becoming a regional director.

Conventional corporate life could not really contain Jim’s nautical spirit. By the mid-70s, he had parted ways with Carolyn, Topeka, and the insurance business. Returning to Kansas City, he struck off on his own into real estate development and property management, getting his fingers into far too many business pies of different varieties to adequately cover here. Most prominent was the Hoyt Group of companies, which included eight different entities at the time. In 1980, he began working with his loyal friend and associate Candy Dennis, whose support kept him going across many further ventures, all the way to the end.

Always moving forward rather than trying to erect monuments to himself, Jim requested no burial or memorial, but will be mourned by his many area friends and associates at a “Jim Hoyt Happy Hour” on May 2nd from 2-4 pm in the Clubhouse at Villas at Waterside Apartments, 11501W 81st St., Lenexa, KS. He is survived by his ex-wife, Carolyn Day, and daughter, Suzanne Day, who both live in Florida, and his beloved sister Julie Pasley of Boonville, Missouri, her three children, and six grandchildren