A former All Blacks captain and New Zealand Rugby Union (NZRU) board chairman, Hobbs died today at the age of 52.
His death came six years after he was diagnosed with leukaemia in 2006.
Unexpected complications arose soon after he completed his chemotherapy treatment in May 2010, and eight months later Hobbs was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, which required a more aggressive treatment regime.
That prompted him to resign as NZRU chairman, a position he had held since 2002, as well as chairman of Rugby New Zealand 2011 Ltd, the organisation entrusted with organising the World Cup tournament here.
A lawyer by profession, Hobbs played 21 tests for the All Blacks as an openside flanker between 1983 and 1986, four of them as captain, before the Canterbury loose forward's career ended prematurely at the age of 26 after he had suffered repeated cases of concussion.
Hobbs then devoted his energies to a growing family and his legal career before emerging as arguably the most important rugby administrator of his generation.
He was a fresh-faced NZRU councillor in 1995 when he fronted as a central, unifying figure to defuse a potentially explosive rift between the players and the NZRU when rugby went professional.
Hobbs was lauded as "the man who saved rugby'' after persuading All Blacks poised to join a breakaway professional circus to return to the NZRU fold.
The defection of New Zealand's top players to the Kerry Packer-backed World Rugby Corporation was considered a done deal until Hobbs, still a fledgling administrator, worked around the clock for six weeks to secure the players' signatures for the NZRU.
As well, the delicate negotiations were complicated by the need to finance the new professional game, which was achieved through a 10-year funding stream from Rupert Murdoch's News Ltd, which financed the Super competition between franchise teams from New Zealand, Australia and South Africa.
For all of this Hobbs was unceremoniously dumped from the NZRU council the following year when a revamp saw the number of seats trimmed to nine, and he did not figure at the head table again until his services were sought out following the debacle surrounding New Zealand's loss of the sub-hosting rights for the 2003 World Cup tournament.
He was installed as board chairman in 2002 to pick up the pieces and rebuild the organisation's reputation, something he achieved to such a degree that he was able to plot New Zealand's successful bid to host the 2011 World Cup - which arguably will be his lasting legacy.
Hobbs is survived by his wife Nicky, a sister of former All Blacks fullback and Wallabies coach Robbie Deans, and four children.
