Tom C. Gardner

Tom Cole Gardner of Henderson, Tennessee passed away on March 6, 2024, at the age of 80 after a long illness.

Gardner was born and raised in LaFollette,Tennessee, the son of the late Dr. and Mrs. Milo Fay Gardner. He went on to a distinguished and remarkably varied academic and professional career that caused him to live most of his life in or around the cities of San Francisco, Washington, New York, and Toronto.

He was a graduate of the University of California - Berkeley, where he earned membership in Phi Beta Kappa honor society. He then earned a Ph.D. in Renaissance literature from the same institution, and served as a member of their faculty. The breadth of his knowledge and intellectual interests is suggested by his then leaving Berkeley to become a consultant to the U.S. Department of Energy on geothermal energy production. He left government employment to work as an investment banker for the Chase Manhattan Bank in New York, rising steadily in his management responsibilities to end his career at the bank as president of Chase Manhattan Canada. 

He had suffered from a variety of serious health problems in recent years, moving to Henderson in 2019 already under hospice care. His family wishes to express their appreciation for the many people who patiently provided care and support to him during his illness. 

He is survived by a son, Thomas, and Thomas’s wife Xin (Lisa), as well as four brothers: Jack of Tampa, Florida, Curt of Houston, Texas, Dave of Atlanta, Georgia, and Jim of Henderson, Tennessee.