- Date Of Birth: 1939
- Date Of Death: 2022
- State: Georgia
He lived in Waterloo until he left for Loras College, where he received his undergraduate degree, and then went to Northwestern University law school, working part time jobs to help pay his way while maintaining grades in the rigorous Northwestern curriculum. His law degree launched a long career in commercial law in which he excelled.
From childhood, he loved baseball. As a little boy he would listen to games on the radio under the covers at night. As a law student, he was a regular in the bleachers at Wrigley Field. He became a passionate fan of the team in every city he lived in: first the Kansas City Royals, then the St. Louis Cardinals, and finally, for the last 40 years of his life, the Atlanta Braves.
That love of baseball led him in middle age to coaching youth baseball; he started when his six year old grandson started playing in the Roswell Youth League, and he kept coaching for ten years. On Coach Slaughter’s teams, every child played; no one was left sitting on the bench. He was never just about winning. He wanted those children to love the game and love playing it.
For all of his adult life, Tom was active in government and politics., and was an inveterate reader of biography and history, particularly of the Civil War and World War II.
He was smart, quick witted, and fiercely competitive; he loved games, but particularly card games and particularly bridge.
He was a big hearted, kind, and generous man who loved his family, was an adoring and happy grandfather, and a doting husband. We will all miss him.
