Tom Head

Head, Tom

Tom Head died November 10, 2017. He was predeceased by his parents Joe & Venus Head and by his sister Betty Jo Rayl Bryant. Tom is survived by his wife Eileen Fay, his daughters Tawn & Hadassah, his sons Alan & Michael, and his four grandchildren Austin, Daemon, Luon & Prishtina. He was also predeceased by Tawn's son Chris. Tom had the extreme good fortune that his children chose wonderful spouses: Shawn Wood, Shprese Demiri, and Jeffrey Mativetsky.

Tom held professorships at Iowa State University, University of Alaska and Binghamton University. He is also survived by his seven PhD students each of whom he was very proud: E. Rutter, J. Delaney, J. Harrison, N. Jonoska, A. Weinberger, E. Goode, and J. Loftus. His life was brightened immensely by visits for lecturing as a guest in several nations. The longest visits being in The Netherlands, Japan, Spain and Malaysia. All his training was in pure mathematics (University of Oklahoma & University of Kansas) but his recognition was for the development of interactions between molecular biology and formal language theory. In 2002 Tom received the annually given 'Yellow Tulip' Award' for his early contribution to DNA computing. In 2004 he was presented with the 'Festschrift' volume of papers: 'Aspects of Biomolecular Computing'. In 2008 a conference at Binghamton University was held celebrating his75th birthday. Listening to the recorded music of Beethoven, Mahler, & Schoenberg and enjoying his family members kept him here on Earth through age 83.

At the family's request funeral services will be private. If interested, donations could be made either to the American Association for the Advancement of Science, AAAS Philanthropy Office, 1200 New York Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20005 or the Union of Concerned Scientists, 2 Brattle Square, Cambridge, MA, 02138. To forward condolences please visit www.demunn.com. Arrangements for the family are directed by the DeMunn Funeral Home.