Deceased December 15, 2018
View alumni profile (log in required)
In Memory
Thomas C. Gorman of Jupiter, Fla., died in the hospital of multiple causes on Dec. 15, 2018, with his wife, Karen Gorman, and their two children, Jim Gorman and Jennifer Gorman Pinkas, by his bedside. He was 81.
Tom came to Amherst from Swampscott (Mass.) High School where he played baseball, basketball and football and received state wide All-Star recognition. At Amherst, Tom majored in economics, pledged Chi Phi and was elected to Sphinx and Scarab. He won freshman numerals in baseball, football and basketball (which he captained) and varsity letters every year in baseball and football, which he also co-captained, being selected to the Little All-American football team senior year.
After graduation, Tom served as an officer in the U.S. Marine Corps in California and Southeast Asia as an officer in a combat-ready battalion landing team from 1958-1961, retiring with the rank of major. While in the Marines, Tom married Karen Giesen, the love of his life, in San Diego.
After leaving the service, Tom earned his MBA at New York University and joined Equitable Life in New York as a management trainee. Over the next 25 years, he rose to the rank of senior officer in Equitable’s investment unit, focusing on group insurance products such as health and pensions.
Tom, Karen and their two children made their home in the suburban environs of Old Greenwich, Conn., where they enjoyed “a lifestyle oriented to outdoor living and interesting people,” according to his autobiography in our 15th Reunion class book.
By then, Tom was assistant vice president of group insurance at Equitable. He later became president of a subsidiary company, Calvin Bullock. He subsequently founded and ran an investment consulting business for high net worth individuals. He reported that he was a moderate conservative in politics.
Tom was elected our class president at our 25th Reunion in 1983. At that time, he wrote, “I value the joys, friendships, happiness and good fellowship I have experienced and fully expect the future to be as kind.”
At age 50, Tom retired to focus on golf, joining a number of prestigious sports-oriented clubs, including the New York Athletic Club; Innis Arden Golf Club in Old Greenwich; Frenchman’s Reserve Country Club in Palm Beach, Fla.; and Cypress Links Golf Club in St. Petersburgh, Fla.
A lifelong Boston Red Sox fan, Tom also enjoyed other outdoor sports, such as sailing, slow pitch softball, tennis and skiing, with Karen and their children. He and Karen began spending winters in Florida, eventually selling their Old Greenwich, Conn., home and moving to Jupiter, Fla., in 2011.
In addition to Karen, his wife of 57 years, Tom is survived by his son and daughter, their respective spouses and five grandchildren. Tom had a special way of touching the lives of both family and friends. He will be greatly missed.
Joe McDonald ’58 and Ned Megargee ’58