Thomas Glenn Thornton MD

Dayton, Ohio – Thomas Glenn Thornton, MD, age 83, passed away peacefully at the Arthur G. James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, on May 6, 2026. He was born in Dayton on April 21, 1943. He attended Holy Angels Grade School, and both Chaminade and Oakwood High Schools, graduating from Oakwood in 1961. He went on to the University of Dayton, from which he graduated in 1965, and the Ohio State University College of Medicine, graduating from there in 1969. He then trained at the University of Cincinnati Medical Center and practiced medicine as a cardiologist and board-certified internal medicine specialist in Dayton with the Miami Valley Cardiologists group and at Miami Valley Hospital. He served tenures as Chief of Staff of Miami Valley Hospital and as a member of the Board of Directors of the Premier Health system. He retired from the practice of medicine in 2017, at the age of seventy-four.

Tom loved spending time with family and friends, traveling, playing golf and tennis, biking, having cocktail hour debates, great dinners (many of them at the Oakwood Club), going to Dayton Flyer basketball games (at which he was a 50+ year fixture in the corner across from the home bench), Ohio State football games and watching his children’s, and then grandchildren’s, events and games. Tom loved Ireland and spent some of his happiest times there traveling with his wife, extended family, and friends, playing golf, climbing mountains, and holding down a stool at the pub well into his seventies. He also loved Hilton Head Island, South Carolina, which he considered a peaceful refuge and place to recharge and gather with the people he loved. He read every day and could talk for hours about the news, and his favorite books, movies, and tv shows. He had a unique sense of humor and an endless supply of funny sayings and quips (that his kids and grandkids loved) and could tell a great story (and told some of the best ones many times over). A great many people, and his family most of all, will miss Tom. He gave his time happily and effortlessly; he made events and activities better and more joyful with his presence.

Preceded in death by his father Legar “Jack” Thornton, and his mother, Elizabeth Irene (Moylan) Thornton; aunts and uncles Frank and Rita Wenzke, and William and Mary Neville; cousins, with whom he grew up and considered siblings, Marilyn, James, Frank, Margaret, and Eugene Wenzke; and several dear friends whom he loved.

Tom is survived by his wife, best friend, and love of his life, Deborah Ruth (Wertz) Thornton, with whom he was married for fifty-three years; children and their spouses, Brett Patrick Thornton (Jaime), Matthew Adam Thornton (Kendra), Tara McCabe Iorio (Timothy), Kelsey Colleen Cafarella (Michael); brother William Moylan Thornton and sister-in-law Carla Thornton; sister-in-law Billy Jo Klopfenstein (Jeffrey); and twelve grandchildren, Thomas David, Brett Finnian, and Margaret Lucille Thornton; Declan Berke, Dylan Mary and Karys Irene Thornton; Tad Nicolas, Reese McCabe, and Beckett Timothy Iorio; and Telly Daniel, Calvin William, and Tate Joseph Cafarella; cousins Jerome, Janet, Robert, Edward, Steven, and Theresa Wenzke; and many nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

The family will hold a private funeral mass at Holy Angels Catholic Church in Dayton, where Tom was a life-long parishioner, on May 18, 2026. Per Tom’s request, the family will hold a wake at a later date, where family and friends can raise a toast, tell stories, laugh, and share their memories of a great husband, father, grandfather, uncle, brother, cousin, doctor, and friend.