Thomas Jackson Hannum

1957 ~ 2012
Thomas Jackson Hannum, 54, passed away at home in Salt Lake City, on Friday, March 30, after more than a year of intractable suffering secondary to multiple complications of spinal surgery. He was born in Wiesbaden, Germany, on November 26, 1957, to Thomas Loftin Hannum and Alida Jackson Hannum and moved to Brigham City at age two, where he received his entire pre university education. He graduated from Box Elder High School where he was a student athlete, performing well academically and also in football, track and skiing. He was president of the ski club. He graduated Magna Cum Laude from the University of Utah with a dual major in Political Science and Spanish. He then went on to the University of Hawaii to obtain a Master's Degree in Linguistics. He had a great love of languages and was fluent in five tongues. He also obtained a MBA in International Business from the Thunderbird School of International Business in Phoenix, Arizona. From the summer of his graduation from high school through the entire period of obtaining his higher education, he spent each summer participating with Amigos de las Americas, an organization providing medical assistance and immunizations to the neediest areas of Latin America. He worked in Mexico, Panama, Honduras and Nicaragua.
After graduating from Thunderbird he worked for one year on Wall Street for Bank of Nova Scotia before moving to Chicago, where he worked for Deutsche Bank and then moved on to San Diego, where he worked for Merrill Lynch specializing in their Latin American division. He eventually returned to Utah with its wonderful mountains, his favorite ski slopes and his family, where he remained the rest of his life. He worked with several different companies in the Salt Lake City area before joining a young, progressive, far sighted company named Hypercomp Engineering, right in his home town of Brigham City, where he remained until his death. He loved working for Hypercomp even though he had to commute from Salt Lake City. His work at Hypercomp also provided him with the opportunity, not only to apply the knowledge and skills he had gained at Thunderbird International School of Business, but also to experience the pleasure and challenge of international travel and to utilize and hone his language skills. It also enabled him to see many of the historic areas he had studied and read about all his life.
Having been born in Germany, it seemed only natural that Tom should marry "en schones Deutches madchen," and it seemed even more appropriate that her name would be "Jutta," pronounced exactly the same as the name of the state of Utah. Tom and Jutta met in Salt Lake City and were married in the Hannum garden in Brigham City. They have been blessed with a beautiful talented daughter whom they named Hannah. Being an only child, Tom and Hannah shared an unusually close father-daughter relationship, which Tom fully realized and dearly cherished. They spent endless hours together studying languages, history, art, math and many other subjects. They also enjoyed ice skating, skiing, hiking and many other outdoor activities together. No father could have been prouder of his daughter than Tom was of his precious Hannah.
Tom's other interests included reading, with a particular passion for history, gardening, snow and water skiing, traveling, photography, antique automobiles and home maintenance.
He is survived by his wife, Jutta and his daughter, Hannah, both of Salt Lake City; his sister, Shelley Merritts and her sons, William and Marshall, all of Pleasant View, UT, and his brother, Marshall and wife, Christie, and daughters, Brooke, Mirabella, and Alida, of Moab, UT; he is also survived by his parents, Tom and Alida Hannum of Bingham City UT.
The Hannum family wishes to express their special appreciation to his wonderful friends, Richard Beckstrand, Jeff Peck, Claus Brauer, Lars Johannsen, Jamie Patterson, Wayne Clark and Ryan Noorda for their kindness and support during his darkest hours. And his nephew, William, will always be remembered as Tom's special angel.
Funeral services will be held in his home for the immediate family only. Tom was an organ donor, and the family suggests that those who wish to make a donation to the Utah Donor Registry go to the website www.yesutah.org. Please leave online messages and tributes for the family at www.larkinmortuary.com.