Obituary of Gordon B. Thomas

Gordon B. Thomas, 90, died Thursday, Jan. 22, 2015 at his home in Somerset, NJ. Visitation will be at Hugh M. Moriarty Funeral Home, 76 Park St, Montclair, NJ 07042 on Wednesday, Jan. 28 from 2 to 4 and 7 to 9 PM. A Memorial Mass is scheduled for 10:15 AM on Jan. 29, at St. Bonaventure Church, 174 Ramsey St, Paterson, NJ 07501. For directions and online condolences, please visit www.moriartyfh.com. Mr. Thomas was born Jan. 10, 1925 in Sydney, Australia, to George and Flora McGill Thomas. He and his family immigrated to the United States in 1944 after having lived in London, England and Kingston, Jamaica. He often told stories of his early life in foreign countries and of his travels abroad as an adult. His most recent trip was in 2013 to Jamaica to see the area where he had lived as a teenager. After raising his family in Montclair, NJ, Mr. Thomas moved to Connecticut, where he lived until 2004. Mr. Thomas, a graduate of Rutgers University, New Brunswick, NJ, worked for most of his life in the pharmaceutical industry, primarily as a statistician. For years, he worked for United Aircraft Corporation, based one summer in the mid-1960's in Pasadena, CA, where he served as a consultant for Jet Propulsion Labs, working on space research. A lover of history, classical music and computer programming, he volunteered his time at Jewish Family Services of Connecticut and the Westport, CT, Unitarian Singles Group. He was predeceased by his former wife, Lucille Blasovich Thomas and by his parents. Mr. Thomas is survived by his longtime companion, Stephanie Simpson, originally from New Zealand, his sister, Pauline Thomas of New York City, three children, Jocelyn Thomas of Somerset, Regina Thomas Griffith and her husband, Robert, of Nutley, NJ, Martin Thomas of Wayne, NJ and five grandchildren, Andor Kish, and Danielle of Denville, NJ, Meredith Kish Grossi and John of Clifton, NJ, Sean Griffith of Nutley, and Phoebe and Toby Thomas of Wayne. He had two great grandsons, Nolan Grossi and Brooks Kish. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to jewish Family Services of Connecticut, wwwjfct.org and to the American Cancer Society, www.cancer.org.