That's a picture of Tom taken at my mother's house in Malibu about 5 or 6 years ago. He was just then beginning to really show signs of the Alzheimers which finally took his life this morning. In his prime, he had a great mind. He was a brilliant photographer, which is how he earned his living. During WW2, the War Department would not allow him to serve in a combat capacity, so he worked at the Lockheed Skunk Works, where he pioneered the use of photographic techniques to create templates for aircraft parts. After the war, he worked at Vandenberg AFB, where he was involved in the processing and printing of the film recovered from the Aurora project spy satellites. Tom owned a photography studio, Images, in Santa Maria California, where he lived out the rest of his life.
He is survived by his wife Meg - a former studio starlet during the '40s; his sons Tom and Bryn, and their children.
Uncle Tom was a very sweet and quiet man with a ready smile. He will be missed.
Edited to update the picture with a higher quality one.
