Harvey Blair Hobson (1909–1976) was the son of a prominent Cleveland ear, nose and throat specialist, Dr. Willis S. Hobson, and Florence M. Lower Hobson. In the 1920s, his mother, a graduate of Western Reserve University (WRU) and a teacher at Fairmount Junior High School, prepared a curriculum for introducing the teaching of hygiene that was later adopted for all junior high schools in Cleveland. She was a board member of the Child Health Association and the Eliza Jennings Home.

Like his mother, Harvey Hobson also graduated from Western Reserve (B.A., 1934; LL.B., 1936). After earning his law degree, he joined the firm of Thompson, Hine & Flory. He was a member of the board of overseers for the WRU law school and a trustee of the Central School of Practical Nursing, Martha Holden Jennings Foundation, Charles C. Hutchins Trust Foundation and Greater Cleveland Associated Foundation.