Thomas Walter Wahman ’60

Thomas Walter Wahman ’60 died on February 26 at St. Luke’s Hospital in N.Y.C. He had been suffering from a progressive dementia for some time. “He loved Dartmouth and the class of 1960,” says his wife, Susan. He was one of 1960’s most respected classmates. At Dartmouth Tom was a recognized and respected leader of our class. He was a stalwart on the 1959 and 1960 championship hockey teams. In 1960 he earned All American honors as a goalie, sporting an unfathomable goals-against average. However, Tom’s leadership and respect were not confined to the ice. He was an active member of the Dartmouth Christian Union all four years, serving as vice president in his junior year and president his senior year. Tom was also on the Undergraduate Council in his junior and senior years. As a senior he served as chairman of Palaeopitus and as a member of the Dartmouth Athletic Council. He was a member of Beta Theta Pi. Following Dartmouth he attended Union Theological Seminary, earning a bachelor of divinity. After seminary Tom became involved in the civil rights movement. Later, as a program officer with several foundations, he arranged multi-year grants totaling tens of millions of dollars in support of the Civil Rights Movement, economic and social justice, climate change and farmland preservation. Tom was a chief strategist behind the contentious 1982 renewal of the Voting Rights Act. In 2007 Tom received from Dartmouth the Martin Luther King Jr. Social Justice Award for his lifetime of achievement. Tom is survived by Susan, daughters Gwendolyn and Jessica and brothers Bob, Jack and Bill.