Answer Special Call to Serve - King's College

NEWS & NOTES
Thomas V. Tobin
1926-2009
Tom Tobin ’51, King’s most senior faculty member,
passed away in August.
According to fellow faculty member Barry Williams,
Tobin once wrote in a senior faculty review, “My
association with King’s began at birth.” As a student
and a faculty member, Tobin was a fixture of the
King’s campus for 61 of the 63 years of the College’s
existence and the 83 years of Tom’s existence.
After being identified through high school aptitude
tests as having engineering talents, Tobin took several
classes at King’s College in New York City (now
Columbia University) before entering the United
States Air Force. He was a member of an engineering
team that developed Walkie-Talkie upgrades needed
for the Normandy Invasion. He later worked on the
Manhattan Project, although he never knew his work
would be used in the development of an atomic bomb.
After his military discharge, Tobin, in a previous
Pride profile, said he heard about the formation of
King’s College and felt “it was opened just for me.”
At King’s, he pursued his true passion, biology. He
quickly formed a mentor-protégé relationship with original
King’s faculty member Rev. Frank O’Hara, C.S.C. After being
a lab instructor under O’Hara in his junior and senior years,
Tobin won fellowships from the Danforth and National Science
Foundations for advanced studies which he pursued at Boston
College.
Tobin was hired by King’s in 1952 and given the responsibility
to develop the science curriculum and set up labs.
“There was little money to buy lab equipment. My wife,
Dolores, would often get angry with me because half of
everything we had in our house, including baby food jars and
ketchup bottles, ended up in the lab.
The best things I learned from Father O’Hara were confidence
and friendship, which I tried to pass along to my students.”
Tobin once admitted that he had a reputation for “a no
nonsense, work now, play later” approach to teaching that
often intimidated his students. However, many of those same
students have been consistent in their admissions that it was
Tobin’s thoroughness that allowed them to have an easier time
in advanced graduate and medical school courses than some of
their counterparts.
“There were three major parts of my father’s life: my mother,
me and King’s,” Tobin’s daughter, Cynthia Jackson ’76, said
recently. “King’s wasn’t just a job or career for my dad— it was
his passion, his life’s mission. He was as excited about each new
class and semester as the first year he taught.”
Jackson also recalled, in lieu of a family vacation,
accompanying her father on “road trips” to get eggs for use in
In January, Tom Tobin, center was presented a plaque detailing the faculty
development and research fund established in his honor by former students. Shown
with Tobin are, first row, from left, Dr. Robert Paoletti, professor of biology and
health professions advisor, a position Tobin occupied for many years; Father
O’Hara, C.S.C., president; and Dr. Nicholas Holodick, vice president for academic
affairs; Standing, from left, is Dr. David Glick, associate professor of biology;
Father Tony Grasso, C.S.C., associate vice president for academic affairs and
dean of the faculty; Dr. Ann Yezerski, associate professor and chair of the biology
department; and Frank Oliver, vice president for institutional advancement.
embryology classes. “My father working for King’s during those
early years resulted in financial and time sacrifices for our entire
family, but his dedication to the College never wavered.”
Being the daughter of a biology teacher did have some
advantages - Jackson recalls being “the most popular kid in the
neighborhood” when Tobin brought home an alligator that had
been donated to the College’s biology lab but grew too big to
keep on campus. In the short time before he was able to relocate
it to an amphibian farm in the Poconos, he would walk it in the
neighborhood on a leash.
Befitting Tobin’s special relationship with his mentor, he
received in 1984 the Fr. Frank J. O’Hara Distinguished Service
Professor of the Sciences Award.
During an on-campus memorial service held early in the fall
semester, Tobin was recognized for his humility and devotion
to his Catholic faith, his family, his students and the field of
biology. Tobin rarely had his name stitched on his ever-present
lab coat, instead using the inscription “Theophrastus,” a Greek
philosopher who is widely credited for starting the study of
botany and being the first physiologist. His constant recognition
of those who came before him was also exhibited by the brick
from Northampton Hall, the College’s original building, which
Tobin kept in his office. His habit of whistling in the hallways
was also mentioned by more than one speaker.
A plaque dedicating to Tobin the second floor of the Parente
Life Sciences Center where the biology offices and classrooms
are now located hangs where he taught in his final years of
service to King’s and his students.
32 Pride ✦ Fall 2009