H. Thomas Foley

Dr. H. Thomas Foley, known to his friends as Tom, died peacefully September 9 in Silver Spring, MD, from complications of pneumonia. He was born March 27, 1933, in Pittsburgh, PA. In 1954, he graduated with a science degree from the University of Pittsburgh where he met the love of his life, Mary Varas Foley. He went on to graduate from the New York University School of Medicine in 1959. 

In 1963, he moved with his family to Cheverly, MD and began a career in medical research with the U.S. Public Health Service and the National Institutes of Health. He later became affiliated with the teaching faculty at Georgetown University Medical School, over the years earning admiration and respect from cohorts of students and residents on service at D.C. General Hospital in the 1970s and 1980s. Mid-career, he pursued a J.D. degree at Georgetown University Law Center, graduating in 1977. Thereafter he was a medical-legal consultant specializing in internal medicine, including staff assignments with the Armed Forces Institute of Pathology on the Walter-Reed Campus.

Dr. Foley and his wife Mary Foley raised their two children, Richard and Lisa, in Cheverly where they made their home for over 50 years. In those years, Tom and Mary also loved and cared for a long parade of sweet, lovable and annoying domestic cats. Tom served as a town council member in the 1990s and was active in the Garden Club. After retirement, he was Treasurer of the local Meals on Wheels program and was an engaged member of the Friends of the Bladensburg Library, along with many other volunteer roles. He loved playing tennis and bridge. He also loved the musical arts, specifically opera both high and low and dramatic symphonic compositions.

He was predeceased by Mary Foley. He is survived by son and daughter-in-law Richard and Janice Foley of Alexandria, VA; daughter and son-in-law Lisa and Kurt Stand of Greenbelt, MD; granddaughter Paige Foley Marrin and her husband David Marrin of Alexandria; great-grandson Rucker Marrin; brother Richard M. Foley of Sandusky, Ohio; and step-grandchildren Rosa Squillacote and Karl Stand of New York.

A memorial gathering is being planned for late October. For remembrance, the family suggest considering a donation to Friends of the Library in Prince George’s County, https://pgcmls.info/friends-of-the-library, or A Cat’s Life Rescue, Mt. Rainier, MD, https://www.acatsliferescue.org/