For Immediate Release
April 16, 2009
Contact: Charlie McKinney
Phone: (603) 880-8308, ext. 21
Email:cmckinney@ThomasMoreCollege.edu
MERRIMACK – The Thomas More College community mourns the death of Dr. Thomas Dillon, 62, president of Thomas Aquinas College in Santa Paula, California. Dr. Dillon died in a car accident on Wednesday, April 15 while traveling on business with his wife in Ireland. Dillon’s wife, Terry, remained in a Dublin hospital following the accident, and is expected to survive.
Thomas More College president Dr. Jeffrey O. Nelson released the following statement:
Like so many others, we are saddened by Tom’s sudden passing, but we also rejoice and celebrate his remarkable life. Tom will be remembered as a builder of the Church in America through his tireless labors to secure Thomas Aquinas College as a permanent institution of academic excellence and fidelity. He was a generous counselor to many of his peers in Catholic higher education. He was a champion of the revival of small-scale, Socratic liberal arts education, and was a gifted teacher and administrator. Our prayers are with his wife, Terry, his children, their spouses, and his grandchildren. I am confident that today he is enjoying the eternal love and peace of the Risen Jesus.”
Thomas More College will offer a Mass for the repose of Dr. Dillon’s soul on Monday, April 20, 2009.
