Thomas Nicholas Lash

Thomas N. Lash, a sixth-generation Alexandrian, died June 5, 2024 at age 82 in Arlington, Virginia of natural causes. Thomas Nicholas Lash was born to Anthony Remigius and Geraldine Nalls Lash on November 6, 1941, the fifth of their eight children. He grew up in a white house on King Street built by his father and where his parents lived for more than 50 years. He graduated from Blessed Sacrament Elementary School, Alexandria, and St. John's College High School in Washington, DC in 1959. He received a B. S. degree in Civil Engineering in 1963 and an M. S. degree in Sanitary Engineering in 1969, both from Virginia Tech. Mr. Lash rose to the rank of Captain in the U. S. Army Corps of Engineers and commanded Company D, 19th Engineer Battalion (Combat) in South Vietnam. He was awarded the Bronze Star for Heroism in 1968. Mr. Lash was an accomplished professional engineer who spent his career with Rummel, Klepper & Kahl in Baltimore, MD, and with Parsons Corporation in Fairfax, VA. During his thirty years of consulting engineering practice, he managed major civil engineering projects for federal, state and municipal agencies in Maryland, Virginia, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Louisiana as well as in Puerto Rico, Abu Dhabi and Lima, Peru. He was also active in several professional societies and served as President of the Maryland Section, American Society of Civil Engineers in 1985. Mr. Lash was an avid reader of fiction, nonfiction and newspapers, a daily New York Times crossword puzzler, and a gourmand who enjoyed liver pudding, soft shell crabs and any food prepared by his sister-in-law, Caryn Wagner. He enjoyed playing bridge and going to musicals. He was a standby at family beach trips, Christmas and birthday parties and whose conversational skill will be dearly missed. He is survived by his son, Richard Anthony Lash and his daughter-in-law, Kathleen Davis Lash, of Arlington; five grandchildren: Caroline Lash Hill, Margaret E. Cash, Robert M. Lash, Stephanie Lash Traylor and Virginia G. Lash; nine great grandchildren. He was predeceased by another son, Thomas Nicholas Ellsworth Lash. He was exceptionally close with his siblings and participated in weekly Zoom calls with the group until only a few days before his death. He is survived by three sisters: Rose Ellen Cunningham, Geraldine A. Lash, and Judith M. Lash (another sister, Mary Esther Gaines, preceded him in death) and three brothers: Anthony R. Lash, Jr., Carlyle M. Lash, and Jonathan C. D. Lash. He also leaves behind numerous nieces and nephews, many of whom visited him in the hospital during his last illness.