WARWICK, RI. - Horace Hobbs, 99, died July 7, 1999, in Kent County Memorial Hospital. He was born in Hampton and moved to Warwick in 1930.

He was a U.S. Army veteran of World War I serving as a corporal.

He was a graduate of the University of New Hampshire and received his master's degree in education from Columbia University.

Mr. Hobbs was a teacher at Rhode Island College, Brown University and the University of Rhode Island.

He was the former Democratic mayor of Warwick. He ran for mayor in 1960 against the entrenched Republican establishment and won. His win was the start of 32 years of Democratic control of City Hall.

During his tenure as mayor, Hobbs campaigned effectively for a central library, established a sewer authority and built the first federally subsidized housing for the elderly in the city.

He resigned as mayor in 1966 to challenge then-governor John Chafee. After losing that election, he ran as an Independent against Mayor Philip W. Noel. When he lost that election, he retired from elective office.

In recognition of his support for a central library, a reading room in the Warwick Library was dedicated to Mr. Hobbs this year.

He was a Mason and a former member of the Warwick Lions Club and was president of the Barnard Club in 1942.

He is survived by one son, Kendall E. Hobbs of Lucas Valley, Calif; one daughter, Jacqueline McDavid of Port Washington, N.Y.; seven grandchildren, and 13 great-grandchildren.

Memorial services were held July 17 in St. Mark Episcopal Church, Warwick.