In the year 1920, Hoving received his bachelor's degree from Brown University,[6] where he was a member of the Upsilon chapter of the Delta Kappa Epsilon fraternity.

[8] Hoving bought a controlling share of Tiffany & Co. in 1955, at that time company's performance appeared to be gradually declining with around $7 million worth of business a year.

[1] Hoving maintained standards at Tiffany & Co. by refusing to sell diamond rings to men, nothing silver plated and no account charged for customers who had been impolite towards the salespeople.

Once in 1960, Hoving met then President-elect, after store hours, and assisted him in selecting a brooch by Jean Schlumberger with rubies and diamonds for Jacqueline Kennedy.

[10] Kennedy contacted Hoving again in 1962 and requested thirty two Lucite calendar mementos for his assistants who helped him during the Cuban Missile Crisis.

Henry B. Platt took over Tiffany & Company as the chairman after Hoving's resignation but was fired five months later on the grounds of incompetency.

In an interview for The New York Times, Angela Cummings stated: At Tiffany's I met Walter Hoving, she recalled, and he looked at the little portfolio I had and said, You want to work for us, go ahead and try.

[4] Langley owned the designed by Ogden Codman Berkley Villa on Bellevue Avenue in Newport, Rhode Island.