Tom
showed early interest in journalism and public affairs when he served on the
Taft Student Council and joined the staff of the Taft Tribune. He earned a
bachelor’s in English literature at St. John’s University (Minnesota) and
continued his studies at DePaul, Loyola and Harvard.
Tom served as press secretary to the governor of Michigan, as an assistant to
the U.S. Secretary of Commerce (Nixon Administration), did press relations for
the Peace Corps, and became a vice-president for the Quaker Oats Co.
Tom hosted a talk show on WLS, was an author and regular commentator for the
Chicago Tribune, Chicago Sun-Times and The Wall Street Journal. He founded or
led many community organizations, was a consultant on several political
campaigns and taught political science at Chicago universities, Harvard,
Princeton and in Oxford, England.
Tom died in 2011.