Thomas Gavin Gore

He was born in 1939 in Pittsburg, Kansas, the only child of Harold and Mary Adele Gore. When he was 11 years old, his family moved to Arlington Heights, Illinois, where he met his future bride, Lorraine Riley. He attended University of Kansas (KU) and married Laurie in 1960. They subsequently moved to California and had two sons.

Tom started his business career in the home office of Occidental Life Insurance Company, and eventually became branch manager of the Newport Beach office. A few years later, he started his own independent brokerage firm, Thomas G. Gore Insurance Agency, Inc. He was a Chartered Life Underwriter, Chartered Financial Consultant and a member of the Million Dollar Round Table. His clients benefitted from Tom’s knowledge and dedicated concern, and many became friends.

He enjoyed playing cards, listening to country music, and especially sports. He played football, basketball, and baseball at Arcadia and Menlo Atherton high schools. He went on to play basketball at KU when Wilt Chamberlain was on the team. He spent countless hours helping his sons with basketball and coached them for many years on traveling teams.

Golf became his passion. He started playing after college and participated in numerous club and amateur tournaments throughout Southern California. He could remember virtually every shot, and every hole, of every golf course he played. He was a member of Crosswater Country Club in Sunriver, Oregon, and Santa Ana Country Club (SACC) for 34 years He was a member of the board of directors, and he played an instrumental role in the redesign of the course at SACC. His rationale was simple: “This is not about me. It is not really about any of us. It is about the people who are going to come behind us many years from now.”

He will be remembered for his humor, honesty, loyalty, fairness, and independence. A friend of Tom’s wrote, “He had a quiet and dignified integrity about him that defined his persona… There was something about him being a Jayhawk and coming from the Midwest that amplified his sterling character. It is not easy to articulate, but you know it when you see it.”

Tom never smiled brighter, laughed heartier, or loved more deeply than when he spent time with his family. He is survived by his wife Laurie; son Robert, his wife Renee, and their daughters Riley and Rachel; son Gregory, his wife Melanie, and their children Josephine, Katherine, and Giovanni; and beloved dog Birdie. We all love you, Papa.

Please consider a contribution to a charity of your choice in honor of Tom.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.fairhavenmemorial.com for the Gore family.