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IN LOVING MEMORY OF

Thomas Tilley

Thomas Tilley Adams Profile Photo

Adams

Oct 9, 1929 — Dec 16, 2015

Obituary

Thomas Tilley Adams, attorney, died at home on December 16, 2015 at 86 years of age. The cause of death was cancer. Born in Orchard Park, New York on October 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, CT, practicing there from 1963-2001, 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, Connecticut, more broadly, 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.
Thomas Adams also served on a variety of trusts including Dana Fund International, Elizabeth Raymond Ambler Trust, S.T. Shoff Charitable Trust, and The Shoff Foundation.
In upstate New York, he, his wife Virginia and Marcelino and Judith Lavin donated 94 acres with 2,530 feet of Lake George historic shoreline, known as Rogers Rock and Little Slide, to the Lake George Land Conservancy. "Our respective families are pleased to make this gift to LGLC in the hope that it will further its efforts and thus safeguard the drinkable water quality in Lake George's north basin and preserve the scenic grandeur of both Rogers Rock and Anthony's Nose mountain bastions," said Adams in 1999 when the first gift was announced.
Thomas 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.
Tom 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, NY 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 January 16 at 2 pm at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church, 36 New Canaan Road, Wilton, with a reception following at the Wilton Public Library, 137 Old Ridgefield Road, Wilton, CT.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that any donations be made either to the Wilton Public Library of Wilton, CT http://www.wiltonlibrary.org/ or the Black Watch Memorial Library of Ticonderoga, NY http://www.cefls.org/ticonderoga.htm
To send flowers or plant a memorial tree in memory, please visit our flower store.

Funeral Services

Memorial Service

January
16

Saturday

St. Matthews Episcopal Church

36 New Canaan Road, Wilton, CT 06897

Starts at 2:00 pm

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