Long-time associate Joe Walls, both a friend and business associate in his role as Chairman of New Zealand Bloodstock, spoke on behalf of many when describing Patrick Hogan's contribution to New Zealand's proud heritage.
"I have been fortunate enough to have known Patrick and Justine for more than 50 years and my association was more than just a client, salesman one. They have been amazing friends to both Wendy and myself," Walls said.
"Two such great horses in Sir Tristram and his son Zabeel couldn't have been placed in better hands. His dedication to the industry, his marketing skills, his flare and his professional fairness put the New Zealand industry and the national sales on the map internationally."
Even as a boy growing up on the family farm where horses and cattle shared the paddocks, Hogan's special talents shone through.
Ribbon-winning dairy calves provided the springboard to parading Fencourt Stud yearlings at the annual Trentham sales as a teenager, and once he had his own draft under the Cambridge Stud shingle, he brought a new standard to promotion and marketing.
What was to become a legion of Cambridge Stud staff quickly learnt the Hogan way of impeccable personal presentation and the expectations of the man known respectfully as The Boss.
Not only did they follow his example of preparing and showing off stud graduates to their best advantage, but so did rival breeders take note as the bar was continually raised through the influence of one man possessed with passion and vision par excellence.
"For me personally and for so many other people who were mentored by Patrick it's a very sad day," said Marcus Corban, whose association with Hogan spanned four decades in a career that grew to becoming Cambridge Stud general manager.
"He was a great mentor and to me he was like a father; he was a perfectionist, a great thinker, he was passionate, so methodical with his matings and everything he did.
"When I think back on Patrick's life and what he achieved, that also includes his rock, Mrs H (Lady Justine), who was with him from the very start. It's a terribly sad time for the family."
Hogan was to freely admit in subsequent years that the best thing that ever happened to him and Cambridge Stud was Sir Tristram, but the contemporaneous point raised by others is whether anyone else could have achieved so much in moulding the stallion into the breed-shaping champion of the late 20th Century.
Sir Tristram sired top class racehorses of virtually every description, from a Golden Slipper winner to a multitude of classic and cup winners, not forgetting numerous leading jumpers.
All up he left 45 individual Group One winners, a figure that surpassed legendary North American stallion Northern Dancer's record. Amongst them was the horse that, through another inspirational Hogan call, was to continue his sire's legacy.
Australian Guineas winner Zabeel took up duties at Cambridge Stud in 1991, initially alongside Sir Tristram, who was to die aged 26 in 1997.
In a graphic illustration of the Hogan guile, Zabeel stood out amongst Sir Tristram's sire sons, quite incredibly matching his exact tally of Group One winners as well as notching a raft of stallion premierships.