Tom tribute My beautiful brother Tom was the “surprise” fifth child, born when I was 14, Lilli 12, Andrew 10, and Wil 4 1/2. What a blessing that surprise was. It’s hard to imagine a world in which Tom hadn’t existed. That’s evident from the outpouring of love from near and far as people learned of his terminal diagnosis and death. As Lilli and I were so much older than Tom, we had quite an active role taking care of him, including pushing him up the steep hill to Rodborough Common in his maroon pram. Maybe he got his taste for the outdoor life from those early walks. He certainly loved to be outdoors, whether going on epic hikes (including 10-mile walks even when he had undergone his first cancer treatment), bike rides, or camping in his old VW work van that he’d fitted out for camping. One of his favourite places was Selsley Common. When I stayed with him two years ago shortly after he was diagnosed, we went there for an amazing sunset walk, looking over the Severn Plain to the Welsh Mountains. And just a few weeks ago, he and I drove dad up there to see another glorious sunset, and then witnessed an absolutely magical moonrise (full snow moon) over the hills. Experiencing these things with him was extremely special. His sense of adventure was born early. At the age of 16, he and a friend went Inter-railing around Europe, and since then he’d traveled to various places near and far. He even went to LA once (first class) to install a Damien Hirst art piece in some very wealthy person’s house. He was working as a framer for the artist at the time. That was certainly a different way to travel. Tom was all the nephews’ and nieces’ favourite uncle (sorry all the other uncles!) as is evident in the many pictures in the photo gallery on this page. He didn’t have children of his own, but spent as much time as possible with his nephews and nieces, sometimes for extended stays of several months. What a precious memory for them. I’m sorry my children, in New York, weren’t able to have that experience, but even so, they have great love and affection for Tom from the times they did spend with him. He visited us three times. Once, before our kids were born, when he was 14, he came with our brother Wil and we spent time in New York and we took the train to Iowa via Chicago to visit Mark’s parents. And twice as an adult. Apart from the time he got lost on the subway and ended up on the wrong side of the park from where we lived, he enjoyed spending time in the city, knowing it was only for a short time. Tom wasn’t formally educated beyond grammar (high) school, but he was one of the best-read, most intelligent and intellectually curious people I know. He would rip up long novels, like War and Peace, into small chunks he could fit in his back pocket and carry around with him. His reading matter was eclectic - I loved looking at his bookshelves to see what new, often esoteric, reading material he’d added. His music taste was also broad, running the gamut from Bach to the Beatles, Miles Davis to The Clash. Tom & I (and Lilli and Wil if they were around) loved doing The Guardian crossword and the Thursday and Saturday quizzes together, right up until a week or so before he died. I feel blessed that since Tom’s diagnosis two years ago, I was able to spend extended periods with him - 5 weeks each in 2021 and 2022, and almost 3 months this year (and thankful to my colleagues for enabling me to do this). This was more time than I’d spent with him since I left home for university and then New York when Tom was four, and an opportunity to get to know him better as an adult. I appreciated our great conversations, his insights, his cutting sense of humour, and so much more. Tom, I’ll miss you so much. You’ll be in my heart forever. I love you.