James William Thomas

COLUMBIA - “For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith.” 2 Timothy 4:6 – 4:7. James “Jim” Thomas, 88, passed away peacefully at home on November 5, 2016, with his wife of 34 years by his side. Born in Independence, Missouri, Jim was the son of the late Velma (Mudd) Thomas and Paul “Pete” Thomas. Jim graduated from Columbia High School in 1945 and the University of South Carolina in 1949, where he was Senior Class President and a member of the Sigma Chi fraternity and the Association of Lettermen. Jim began his career in sales and marketing at McKesson & Robbins in Columbia. He quickly rose to the position of Division Sales Manager, travelling throughout the Southeast on behalf of McKesson’s drug division. In the late 1950s he moved to the company’s Norcliff Laboratories (now the Norcliff-Thayer Division of GlaxoSmithKline) in Fairfield County, Connecticut, as Vice President of Sales. Here he developed a lifelong passion for marketing and advertising, prompting him to leave McKesson in the late 1960s to join Compton Advertising (now Saatchi & Saatchi) in New York City. As Senior Vice President and Director of Market Development, he oversaw all sales promotion, direct marketing and retail advertising for the agency’s numerous Fortune 500 clients. After fifteen years at Compton, Jim became President of Symon, Thomas & Hilliard Advertising in New York City, and in 1983 he left to form Thomas & Thomas, a boutique advertising and marketing firm, with his wife Martha. Jim is a former member of the American Association of Advertising Agencies (4 A’s) Sales Promotion Committee, past General Activities Chairman of the Proprietary Association, and a former Sales Promotion Seminar Leader for the Association of National Advertisers (A.N.A.). He has also served as Regional Director of The Partnership for a Drug-Free America and as a business development counselor for the U.S. Small Business Administration. Jim believed in “giving back” and was active in many communities. As a college student in Columbia, he organized and led the first Boy Scout Troop at St. Peter’s Catholic Church. While living in Fairfield, Connecticut, he was elected to the town’s Zoning Board of Appeals and served on numerous committees as a member of The Country Club of Fairfield. In New York, he was president of the residential cooperative where he lived, and on his return to Columbia in the early 1990s, he acted in a similar capacity as President of the Wheeler Hill Neighborhood Association. One of the joys of his later life was counseling students at Dreher High School as its first School-to-Work Advisor. Jim is survived by his beloved wife, Martha (Wetterhall) Thomas; sons Peter James Thomas and wife Catherine of Darien, Connecticut, Christopher James Thomas and wife Tina of Carmel, California, and the mother of his children, Ileen Thomas of Westport, Connecticut. Surviving grandchildren are Henry James Thomas of Darien and Skylar and Hailey Thomas of Carmel. Jim is also survived by his brother-in-law Dr. Scott Wetterhall and wife Deborah of Atlanta, Georgia and nieces Meghan and Madeline. In addition to his parents, he was preceded in death by his mother-in-law, the late Doreen “Dee” Wetterhall of Columbia and Westfield, New Jersey. A memorial service will be held on Thursday November 17, 2016 at 4:00 p.m. in the Chapel at Rutledge College on the Horseshoe of the University of South Carolina. A reception will follow immediately after the service. Dunbar Funeral Home, Devine Street Chapel, is assisting the family. The family would like to express their gratitude for the generous and compassionate care provided to Jim by the physicians and staff of the Columbia Medical Group, the Richland County EMS and Coroner’s Office, and the Devine Street staff of Dunbar Funeral Home. Memorial donations may be made to the American Heart Association, the ASPCA, or to a charity of your choice. Expressions of sympathy can be made at www.dunbarfunerals.com.