Thomas M O'Neill, Jr

Thomas M. O'Neill, Jr., 83, of Pennington, died peacefully at Capital Health Hopewell on September 17. The cause of death was Alzheimer's disease, complicated by COVID-related pneumonia. In addition to his wife, Kate, Tom is survived by their sons, Matt (Bethan Crockett) and Tim (KellyAnn); and grandchildren, John Charles and Adelaide Violet. He was predeceased by their son, John Charles ("Chuck").

Born in Baltimore on December 26, 1942, he shared his Boxing Day birthday with his father and grandfather. Tom was the son of Jolanda DiGiorgio O'Neill and Thomas M. O'Neill, a syndicated political columnist at the Baltimore Sun. He was delivered by noted obstetrician and author Alan F. Guttmacher, MD, who later served as president of Planned Parenthood, the first of many progressive thinkers who would populate Tom's long and productive life.

A graduate of the Gilman School, in Baltimore, Tom served for three years with the U.S. Army Counterintelligence Corps, arriving in Berlin months after the wall was erected. After returning to the U.S., he graduated from Wesleyan University, in Middletown, CT, and studied public policy at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs (now the Princeton School of Public and International Affairs).

In 1970, as environmental policy moved rapidly to the center of public life, New Jersey created the Department of Environmental Protection, with Richard J. Sullivan as its first commissioner. Tom was selected as deputy commissioner. In addition to serving as special assistant to Commissioner Sullivan, Tom directed the DEP's Division of Marine Services and served on the team that established the state's first Energy Office. The work suited him well, combining public service, policy, and strong negotiating skills.

Subsequently, as president and CEO of the Princeton-based Center for Analysis of Public Issues, Tom's work ranged well beyond the usual bounds of a policy institute. He edited New Jersey Reporter magazine, became a regular commentator on NJ Nightly News, and for a time hosted Mainstream, a public affairs program on WNET Channel 13 and New Jersey Public Television. Among the many on-air interviews he led, the most challenging-"the one that made him sweat," he said-was with Boomer, the decidedly mute mascot of the Trenton Thunder.

Tom was next named founding executive director of the Partnership for New Jersey, a roundtable of leaders from the state's major corporations, nonprofit institutions, and smaller businesses working to improve New Jersey's economic climate and quality of life. He took well-deserved pride in his role in developing and leading numerous Partnership projects. Among these, his favorite was Leadership New Jersey, a program that informed and energized a new generation of leaders, focusing on the wide range of political, economic, and social policy issues facing the Garden State. Expanding on these goals, he was a key contributor to the establishment and success of Leadership Trenton and Leadership Newark. After retiring from the Partnership, Tom remained active in public life, in roles including senior advisor to New Jersey Congressman Rush Holt.

His commitment to the community began with a term in the mid-'70s as a Pennington Borough councilman, and he was a longtime a member and then board chair of the Stony Brook-Millstone Watershed Association (now The Watershed Institute). He also served on the Academic Affairs Committee of Thomas Edison State College, co-founded and coached for the Hopewell Valley Boys Lacrosse League, and, for many years, he volunteered as the Hopewell Valley Chorus's concert photographer.

Tom acquired from Kate a love of standard poodles. Their succession of nine poodles shared year-round walks with him, and one even journeyed with her owners, Steinbeck-style, round-trip to California and back. Tom was an avid film lover and reader, reflecting a lifelong curiosity that ranged easily between fiction and nonfiction. He was also a talented sketch artist and caricaturist, who preferred doodling over note-taking and invented a lively drawing game, "War of the Artists," shared with his sons.

Tom's lifelong enthusiasm for train travel inspired him to take his sons round-trip to the West Coast and back in the year they turned 10. And, while France dominated his foreign destinations, his travel included a summer's USAID assignment in Morocco, a visit to Tim in Madagascar, explorations of his family's origins in Ireland and Italy, and his and Kate's fulfillment of an impulsive decision to join a South African safari in celebration of their 50th wedding anniversary.

The O'Neill family invites friends to join them in remembering and celebrating Tom on October 24, from 1 to 3 p.m., in The Nature Center at The Watershed Institute, near Pennington. RSVP to mkelly@thewatershed.org.

In lieu of flowers, the family suggests a gift to an organization reflecting Tom's lifelong dedication to public service and the nonprofit sector: The Watershed Institute's Fund for Nature Camp Scholarships; the George School's John Charles O'Neill Assembly Fund; the Hopewell Valley Chorus; or the Alzheimer's Association of New Jersey.

Arrangements are under the care of Blackwell Memorial Home. www.blackwellmh.com