Hugh Thomas Minewiser Jr.

Hugh Thomas Minewiser Jr. Tom to those who knew and loved him passed away restfully on June 27, 2026. He was 86 years old.

Born in New York City, Tom was the son of Hugh Minewiser Sr. and Virginia Minewiser. He served two honorable tours in the United States Air Force — first as an Armament and Electronics specialist with Strategic Air Command at MacDill Air Force Base in Florida, and later as a Ballistic Missile Analyst at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California – during the early and consequential years of America’s missile program.

That precision of mind followed him into a distinguished career as a Design Engineer with IBM. He was the kind of man who couldn’t leave a puzzle alone. What fewer people knew was that Tom also held a private pilot’s license. The sky – like everything else mechanical and elegant – simply made sense to him.

Tom was a tinkerer and a wonderer — fiercely independent, generous to a fault, and selfless beyond it. He would not back down from doing what was right, and he never needed an audience for it. After more than 25 years with IBM, most men would have called it enough. Tom kept working — not for a paycheck, but for people. A neighbor’s roof, a job that called for a skid loader, carpentry, or whatever needed doing, he showed up. He had a sharp, quietly mischievous sense of humor that caught you off guard. In a world of placating the masses, Tom was comfortable in his own skin in a way that is rarer than it sounds. He knew who he was, and he was at ease with it.

He cherished his time with his grandchildren —BBQs at the lake, fishing, target practice, and making memories that will last their lifetimes.

He was, at his core, a father – a family man. The proof lived in boxes of cards, letters, photographs, and dozens of Disney World tickets and annual passes — saved carefully, held onto through the years. Whatever distance life put between those he cherished, Tom quietly held those memories close.

Tom had walked a long road before he found Monica. Then one Sunday in 1984 — the first time he had returned to church in years — he saw her at Mass and he was smitten from the get-go.

Monica was everything the word dignified was made for — quiet, persevering, and possessed a quiet command of who she was effortlessly. They married on September 15, 1985, and what followed were forty plus years of a love that never stopped showing up. Tom revered her, showered her with attention, and never seemed to tire of letting her know exactly how he felt. She, in turn, doted over him through every illness — steady and gentle, never clipping his wings. Twenty years into their marriage, he was still writing: “I am glad you are in my life.”

They were each other’s oxygen.

Tom was preceded in death by his parents, Hugh Minewiser Sr. and Virginia Minewiser, and his sister, Mary Neron. He is survived by his wife, Monica Minewiser; his brother, Jim Minewiser; his two daughters Pamela & Teresa, of whom he was deeply proud; Noel, Miriam, and Marina to whom he was a thoughtful father; his son-in-law Rob and daughter-in-law, Kimberly. His eyes lit up for his grandchildren: Shauna, Colin, Quinten, Thomas, Eric, Alexander, and Savannah and several great-grandchildren. He is celebrated by his extended family whose lives he touched with his steadiness, generosity, quiet and enduring love.

Family man, Engineer, Teller of Terrible Dad Jokes, Smart-ass and Collector of Fine Tools — the Eveready Man who simply refused to be done with any illness, and who could never walk past a dog without stopping to scratch behind its ears.