Thomas Adams
Thomas Tilley Adams, attorney, died at home on Dec. 16, 2015 at 86 years of age. The cause of death was cancer. Born in Orchard Park, N.Y., on Oct. 9, 1929, to Floyd Tilley and Clara Potter Adams, he was preceded in death by his wife Virginia Smith Adams and is survived by his four children Julia Adams, Janet Adams, Claire Adams, and Douglas Adams, and three grandchildren, Andrew Jordan, Emmett Adams and Thomas Adams.
Thomas Adams graduated from the University of Buffalo in 1951, served as a Captain in the USAF in Korea from 1951 to 1953, and earned a JD from Cornell Law School in 1957. A member of both the New York and Connecticut Bars, he began his legal career in New York City with Davies, Hardy & Schenck from 1957 to 1963. He then became a founding principal of Gregory & Adams in Wilton, Conn., practicing there from 1963 to 2001, and was of counsel from 2002 until the time of his death. He was admitted to the U. S. Court of Appeals (2nd Circuit), and to the bar of the U.S. Supreme Court in 1962. He also lectured at Cornell University Law School and was adjunct Associate Professor of Law at Fordham University.
He helped shape the town of Wilton and Fairfield County, serving as chairman of the building committee for Wilton High School in 1966 and Town Attorney from 1966 to 1971. He served on many boards including the Five Town Foundation, the Wilton Library Association, the Union Trust Company, Norwalk Savings Society, Woodcock Nature Center, Silver Spring Country Club, and the Norwalk Hospital. He also served on a variety of trusts including Dana Fund International, Elizabeth Raymond Ambler Trust, S.T. Shoff Charitable Trust, and The Shoff Foundation.
Tom Adams was tirelessly active on behalf of the public good throughout his career. He was a staunch advocate for a more inclusive American civic life and for those less fortunate, both in the nation at large and the northeast region where he grew up, lived and practiced law, and he consistently dedicated time and resources, including pro bono legal support, to these goals. He was honored with the Distinguished Alumnus award from Cornell Law School, the Silver Beaver Award from the Boy Scouts of America, was admitted to the Apperson Society from the Lake George Land Conservancy, and was Phi Delta Phi.
Thomas Adams was a loving husband, father and family man, a warm and caring friend and counselor, and an energetic mentor to many young people over the years, including as a schoolteacher at Lake Shore Central School in Angola, N.Y., in 1953-4 and throughout his life thereafter. He enjoyed opera, the Adirondacks, golf, reading and discussing history and jurisprudence, the wit and wisdom of Oscar Wilde, and had a remarkable zest for life in general.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, Jan. 16, 2 p.m., at St. Matthew’s Church, 36 New Canaan Road. A reception will follow at 3:30 in the Brubeck Room at Wilton Library, 137 Old Ridgefield Road.
The family requests that donations be made to Wilton Library or the Black Watch Public Library of Ticonderoga, N.Y.
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