In memoriam: Tom Stone

The University was sad to learn that Tom Stone, one of the first academics to be appointed to the new University of Warwick in the 1960s, passed away recently. Tom retired in 2001, following a lengthy career at our University. He started off as an Assistant Lecturer in Molecular Sciences in 1965, and later taught in the Department of Chemistry and the Faculty of Education. He was appointed Senior Tutor in 1986.

Professor Dallal Stevens, Director of Undergraduate Studies at the Law School, knew Tom very well from her former role as Warden of Arthur Vick and then Lakeside. She reflected:

“Back in 1990, when I had just joined Warwick Law School, Tom – in his role as Senior Tutor – chaired the panel that appointed me to my first residential tutor post in Tocil. Over the next 15 years that I spent in the residential life team, I got to know him very well, both as a colleague and a friend. He was a fantastic Senior Tutor, whose advice was widely sought and always pertinent and helpful. Generations of students were assisted by him and remember him gratefully and with immense fondness, as do those who worked with him. He was caring and kind and we spent many lunches putting the world to rights and having a good laugh! Tom was certainly unique, and Warwick University was never quite the same after he retired in 2001.”

Patrick Unwin from Department of Chemistry added:

“Tom was renowned for his dry wit and love of Coventry City Football Club, as I learnt on my very first day as a keen, new, curly-haired Lecturer appointment to Chemistry in 1991. Then head of department, Prof Keith Jennings, took me to the Chemistry academic staff coffee room (yes, there was such a space in the "old days") to introduce me to my new colleagues. As I recall, Tom was moaning about Coventry’s latest result (something he did regularly!) and, after introductions, Tom turned around, looked me up and down and exclaimed “Good grief! We’ve appointed Simon Rattle!” A somewhat unexpected welcome, but typical Tom! I soon learned that he was, in fact, a Simon Rattle fan, attending CBSO concerts whenever they played at the Warwick Arts Centre. Tom loved art, classical music, jazz and theatre. He must have attended most of the events at the Warwick Arts Centre, given the frequency with which we bumped into his wife, Sue, and him, and he was a regular at the RSC in Stratford. He often had tales of his latest escapades to obscure European art galleries!

By the time I joined the department, Tom's research and teaching career were behind him and he was to become full-time Senior Tutor for the University. In this role, he dealt with issues and supported students in his characteristic “matter-of-fact” way, but always with a big heart.

Tom was an Oxford graduate and did postdoctoral research at Stanford, before joining Warwick, where he spent his entire career. One of Warwick's personalities, he gave much to the University and will be greatly missed.”

Tom's funeral will be at 3pm on 14 September at Canley crematorium.