Thomas R. Thomson

Thomas Richard Thomson, Atlantanfor over 50 years, professor of mathematics, chef extraordinaire, sports enthusiast, accomplished traveler, Netflix devotee, died Thursday, February 4, 2021, eight days shy of his 78th birthday.

Before embarking on a career of shaping minds, Tom’s family always knew his keen intellect and love of mathematics would take him far...all the way from Sheepshead Bay to Hoboken to attend the illustrious Stevens Institute of Technology, where he discovered his love of fencing and became captain of his team. His academic journey was far from complete as the pull of the South was too difficult to resist. Tom made a stop in Columbia to attend the University of South Carolina to obtain his Master’s and then kept heading south to attend Georgia State University, where he received his PhD.

Tom spent the majority of his professional life as a Professor of Mathematics at Kennesaw State University. Thirty-five years of grading papers - he kept Bic in business with all of those red pens he used. Former students are still having flashbacks to their time in his classes where he would constantly ask, “Are you with me?”

Tom had many interests, from cooking enormous meals for his loved ones to stamp collecting to combing through bookstores to find yet another mystery to add to his already unbelievably large mystery book collection to watching his beloved New York Yankees and the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets basketball team to shopping at Costco on a near-daily basis so he could prepare his Italian feasts. What mattered most to Tom, however, was his family and cherished friendships.

Tom is predeceased in death by his mother, Anne Catherine Thomson, his father Thomas Keillor Thomson, his younger brother, Robert James Thomson, and his former wife, Barbara Jane Thomas.

He loved to travel, particularly to Scotland, Italy, Spain and the Big Apple, the motherland he never forgot. However, Tom was most content at home in the kitchen, dish towel over his shoulder, cooking a large feast for his loved ones. He loved every aspect – making the list of all the ingredients he would need, shopping for everything, the chopping, slicing, mixing, stirring of everything, and then, finally, sitting down with everyone to enjoy what he prepared. Cooking was his way, ingredient by ingredient, of showing his love.

Tom always knew his true wealth and worth was measured by the love he had for his four children and eight grandchildren. As such, Tom died wealthy beyond measure. It was only fitting he was surrounded by his entire family in the days leading up to and on the day of his death. Daughters, Lisa Susan and Leslie Anne and sons, John Scot-Viagas and Robert Mark, and in-laws, Jan, Scott and Laura, and grandchildren, Annelise, Keillor, Richard, Sunny, Cal, Layton, Blaire and Andrew, who will miss their Pops/Pop Pop immensely.

Tom spent the past few years a resident of Lenbrook Square. It didn’t take long before he discovered the Iron Man inside himself. He took up swimming, recumbent biking and walking on the treadmill.

It is because of how physically capable he had become that the pandemic proved particularly difficult for Tom. He longed for his time in the gym and pool and he suffered from missing his family. The isolation took a toll on him and succumbed quickly after he was diagnosed with Covid-19 in January,

The family would like to thank Dr. Peter Diaz and the devoted nursing staff and doctors at Northside Hospital for their compassionate care of Tom.

A service for family and close friends will take place in the coming weeks at the Cathedral of St Philip. Details will be provided at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, a memorial may be made to the Parkinson’s Foundation – Georgia or The Atlanta Opera.