SEATTLE -- Dick Hoxsey was the kind of person people looked up to.



“He was just a fantastic man, he was our and still is our best friend, our mentor and our hero. He was the most caring, loving, giving man I’ve ever known. He did things for the community that were just outstanding,” said Dick’s brother, Chuck Jones.



He’s talking about the joy Hoxsey brought to residents in nursing homes and patients in hospitals with his therapy dogs.



“He would dress him and the dogs up in seasonal outfits and they would entertain the people in those facilities and they just loved him, and I just can’t say enough about him, he was just a wonderful person,” said Jones.









Dick was out for a run with his two German shepherds, Marco and Dora, last August when he was hit by a pickup truck or SUV on SE Petrovitsky Road in the Fairwood area of Renton and left for dead. The driver sped away.



“Our investigators came out and tried to identify the suspect vehicle, spoke to some witnesses, and we just really don`t have anything yet. We`re hoping that one of your viewers was in the area, remembers this happening, and is able to give us some info,” said King County sheriff's Sgt. B.J. Myers.



Fortunately, Marco and Dora weren’t injured -- at least not physically.



“As soon as we got home, they went and hid under the kitchen table for two days,” said Lillian Wilbur.



She and her daughter heard about the accident through a friend in the sheriff’s office and quickly adopted the 4-year-old siblings.



“You could tell they completely bonded with somebody. They didn’t want to be separated, they were scared. We just put them in the car and they were overwhelmed,” she said.



“They were inseparable, where he went they went. He loved those dogs,” said Jones.



He and his brother used to talk every Sunday night and they had a lot of stories to tell. Dick was a Marine who was the 11th Naval District Champion in boxing. He was so good, he turned pro.



He went on to become a noted writer. One of his books, "The Comeback", was used as a basis for a movie. It was called Main Event and starred Barbra Streisand and Ryan O’Neal.



“Everyone that knew and met my brother for the first time loved him. He was just the kindest man,” said Jones.



Dick worked at Boeing, where he met his wife Barbara. After she died, Dora and Marco became his life. He lived in service to others, which makes how he was killed even harder.



“The coward that ran our brother down and left him in the street to die like a dog, he had no idea what he had done and the man he had killed,” said Jones.



He hopes the driver will do the right thing and come forward, as does Marco and Dora’s new family.



“I just hope that whoever caused the death of their brother comes forward because this started a whole new story for us, but for them, they don`t have an ending to theirs, it`s still an unanswered question to what happened and who was involved, and I hope they get that,” said Wilbur.



Crime Stoppers is offering a $1,000 cash reward for information that leads to the driver’s identity. If you know anything, call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 1-800-222-tips or go online to www.crimestoppers.com to submit the information.