Obituary of Thomas Edwin Griffin

September 18, 1936 - September 5, 2024
 

Thomas Edwin Griffin (Tom), the beloved husband of Doris Eleanor Shearer, passed away peacefully at home after fighting Parkinson's for over 12 years. On Tom's last flight, he joins his family and friends of the Grumman Retiree Club in heaven just shy of his 88th birthday.  

Tom was the cherished son of the late Violet Johnson Pesinkowski and Daniel Thomas Griffin. He was born on September 18, 1936, in White Plains, NY, where his father had found work during the Great Depression. Tom had one brother who preceded him in death: Gary J. Griffin, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Plant Pathology, Physiology, and Weed Science at Virginia Tech. Tom was proud of his brother’s research. Gary was the founder of the American Chestnut Cooperators Foundation and discovered a cancerous mold growing on peanuts which was published in National Geographic Magazine.  

Tom first met Doris on a blind date, where he had tickets to a basketball game at Madison Square Garden. They were married two years later in Oyster Bay and would have celebrated their 62nd anniversary on September 8th. He was the adored father of three children: Thomas Edwin Jr. (Susan Ann McCann), Pamela Eve (Daniel John Hansen), and Neil Lawrence (Elizabeth Katharine Krayer). His love and care for his children were evident in everything he did. Tom cherished his time with his six adoring grandchildren, Daniel John, Eric Quentin, Paul Thomas, Christian August, Anna Dorothea, and Katharina Eleanor. Grandpa was always there to help with math homework! 

Tom is survived by two sisters-in-law and two brothers-in-law who were dear to him, Lucille (Gary Griffin) and Norma (Paul Kessler), and Thomas Shearer. He is a beloved uncle of many nieces, including Lisé (Karl Cooper), Victoria (Andrew Lewis), Heather (David Falk), Donna (David Stewart), Sarah Kessler and one nephew, Glenn Thomas Griffin (Janice Lambiasi). Tom was beloved by many grandnieces, nephews, and cousins, including the first cousins Patricia Ann Milligan Russell, Helen L Davis Quigley, Karen Erica Johnson, Valerie Ann Johnson, Alida Madeleine (the late Melvin C. Lyons), and Eric Francis Johnson (Yuwen Chen). 

Tom was the loving grandson of the late Victoria and Eric Johnson of Väddö, Sweden, and later Oyster Bay, Amelia Remsen Smith and Charles H. Griffin of Oyster Bay. Tom is the great-grandson of Annie Elizabeth DeMott and Daniel Dikeman Smith, a Long Island businessman and inventor who started the first Nassau County Power Plant in Oyster Bay. Tom's family descends from first pilgrim settlers in Massachusetts including Comfort Starr. The family were the first settlers of Albany, Huntington, and Hempstead, New York, including Johannes Dyckman of Albany 1655, Edward Tredwell of Huntington in 1658, the first Presbyterian minister of Hempstead, Reverend Richard Denton in 1650, and John Rock Smith, yeoman of Hempstead in 1687. Tom is a descendant of Jesse DeForest, a leader of the Walloon Huguenots, who escaped Europe to avoid religious persecution. DeForest led a group of around 60 Walloon and Dutch Protestant families to the New World with the goal of establishing a settlement, which would become New Amsterdam, now known as New York City. The first permanent settlers arrived in New Amsterdam in May 1624.

Tom was the salutatorian of his class at Oyster Bay High School and the top student in his class in academics. He earned his Bachelor of Mechanical Engineering from Cornell University in 1959 and his Masters in Physics from Adelphi in 1966. He was a proud alum member of the Sigma Chi fraternity. He was a member of the Long Island Chapter Sons of the American Revolution, Sons of Union Veterans, and the Grumman Retiree Club. Tom was a lifelong New York Yankee baseball fan and enjoyed all sports, especially golf. He was a dedicated wrestling fan, enjoying Eric’s matches at Virginia Tech and now Christian at Cornell University. He lived his lifelong love of sports as a little league coach, a devoted swim parent, a wrestling grandparent immensely proud of two generations of champions and NCAA All-American athletes. Grandpa was also proud of his two beautiful granddaughters who are hard-working and dedicated ballet dancers at the Mount Dora School of Ballet.

Tom was a third-generation Grumman Aerospace Corporation employee, serving from 1959 to 1995. His father and grandfather also worked at Grumman during its early years, including the World War II era, when the company was awarded the Navy E Awards. Tom’s functional specialties included serving as the F-14 Project Group Supervisor of Flight Sciences, focusing on Aerodynamics (Performance, Store Separation, Stability, and Control), Flight Controls, Propulsion, and Thermodynamics. He was the Flight Sciences Representative for F/A-14 Upgrade Studies, serving as the technical interface with NAVAIR on aircraft performance issues. Propulsion System Performance for both new and existing aircraft, Propulsion System Modifications and engine model changes (such as the F110 engine in the F-14D, the J52-P-408 in the EA-6B, and the J52-P-8A in the A-6A), and working on Propulsion System Development for conceptual aircraft (e.g., the VTXTS aircraft with the JT15D-5 engine). He helped lead Company-Funded Equipment (CFE) Engine Development (e.g., the F110-GE-400 on the F-14D Program). Tom served as the F-14/F101 DFE Engine Flight Demonstration Engineer, A-6F/A-6 STOL Demonstration Propulsion Engineer, and worked on VTXTS Concept Definition and Demonstration-Validation. He was the EF-111A Propulsion Group Leader, as well as the Propulsion Group Leader for the A-6A, A-6E, and EA-6B. His earlier roles included Propulsion Engineer and Propulsion Performance Engineer for the A-6A and EA-6A. Among his significant accomplishments were his contributions to the F/A-14 Upgrade Studies Team from 1992 to 1994 and his role as Flight Sciences Leader for the F-14 Mission/Combat Capability Studies, where he worked closely with the NAVAIR Head of Performance. He also supervised F-14 Flight Sciences Groups and the F-14D Aerodynamic Stores Separation Analysis/Live Weapons Firing Program.

Grumman Co-workers remember him as a "highly thought of and a top-notch propulsion engineer.” Tom was a history minor at Cornell University and enjoyed his many retirement years as a volunteer historian at the Grumman History Center until 2023. Mike Ciminera, retired Vice President of Northrop-Grumman Corp., remembers Tom as one of Grumman's finer engineers, "Tom and I got to know each other early in our careers at Grumman - Tom as propulsion engineer and me as an engineer in Preliminary Design. Our paths crossed as we conceived new advanced versions of the Tomcat that employed new engines, and again in 2009 when I wrote my first book about the aircraft designers of Grumman. I had just retired and visited the Grumman History Center on Long Island that was a gold mine of photos and information. Tom, who was acknowledged in the book, volunteered at the History Center and he provided a huge amount of photos, reports, models to be photographed, and letters, along with much encouragement that led to the successful publication of the book in 2013. Tom would always call during and after this five year effort to see how things were going, and his friendship continued well into later years. I will miss his friendship, phone calls and our conversations."

His unique way of thinking and engineering mindset made him different as a father. He was known for his critical thinking, high intelligence, and accuracy. His family and friends remember Tom for his love for sports and photographic memory of maps. He would talk about how he could picture all the roads and railways of the USA in his head. Before the GPS, we had Tom Griffin. His accuracy for directions was uncanny, and his love for sports was infectious. He was a man known for his honesty, generosity, and his actions that spoke volumes. His unique qualities influenced his relationships, making him a beloved husband, father, grandfather, uncle, cousin, and cherished friend. 

Reposing Nolan Funeral Home, 5 Laurel Avenue, Northport Friday September 13, 5 to 8 PM. Funeral Service Saturday September 14, 9:30 AM, at the First Presbyterian Church of Oyster Bay, Rev. Jeff Prey presiding. Interment to follow in the family Plot at Memorial St. John's Cemetery, Laurel Hollow. In Lieu of flowers donations to the Cornell Wrestling Team, C/O Mike Grey, Friedman Wrestling Center, 610 Campus Rod, Ithaca, NY 14853, in Tom's memory would be appreciated.