Thomas Budnik

Thomas Alan Budnik, 54, of Rochester, passed away peacefully at home on May 10, 2016, after a fierce and courageous yearlong battle with cancer.

Tom was born on Oct. 29, 1961, in Rogers City, Mich., to Phil and Doris (Kuebler) Budnik. He was a 1980 graduate of Littlefield High School in Alanson, Mich., and graduated from Central Michigan University in 1984. Tom married Carol Paulus on May 19, 1984, in Harbor Springs, Mich. They had two children, Jeff and Kari.

Tom was a loving husband, father, and friend to many. He loved spending time with family and friends. Tom was very involved in all of his kids' activities and enjoyed coaching and mentoring them in many sports (baseball, softball, golf, basketball, hunting, fishing, etc.) He was extremely proud of his children.

Tom was a hard worker. Growing up in northern Michigan, he helped out on the family's hobby farm, worked at several golf courses and helped many farming neighbors. He joined IBM in May 1984, and was employed there for 31 years. Tom felt honored to work on many exciting IBM products during his career, including the revolutionary AS/400 computer and for the past 10 years the CORAL and Blue Gene family of supercomputers.

Tom had a passion for the outdoors. He especially enjoyed deer and turkey hunting, golfing, fishing and managing wildlife at his hunting camp. Canadian walleye fishing trips, salmon fishing on Lake Michigan, ice and open water fishing with family and friends, brook trout fishing and smelt dipping as a child with his grandparents, were some of his most cherished memories from his fishing adventures. Never wanting to stop after a good day of fishing he would always say, "just one more fish." Tom was also a deer hunting fanatic, and hunted for 40 years in both Michigan and Minnesota. Spending time at hunting camp with family and friends was always at the top of his list. When the bucks started to chase he would contact all his deer hunting buddies with a simple message of excitement: "The bucks are running!"

He was a political junkie and would have lively discussions with many of his friends on the latest political topics. Tom also liked to watch golf, football, baseball and basketball, and followed the Timberwolves, Vikings, Twins and Detroit Tigers. He was also an avid investor and spent years learning everything possible about investing.

Tom is survived by his wife, Carol; his children, Jeff of Rochester and Kari of Seattle; parents, Phil and Doris Budnik of Brutus, Mich.; sister, Jackie (John) Foye of Houston, Texas; brothers, Bob Budnik, Brian (Leslie) Budnik, Charlie Budnik, Ron (Tracy) Budnik, all from northern Michigan. He also is survived by Carol's family, her parents Tom and Evelyn Paulus of Alanson, Mich.; sister, Cathy Paulus of Mt. Pleasant, Mich.; brother, Mark (Sheila) Paulus of Battle Creek, Mich.; and may cousins, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.

Tom and Carol extend their thanks to the Mayo Clinic staff for all the care and support over the past year and to the Seasons Hospice team for all the wonderful and amazing care in the final months of the cancer fight.

A celebration of Tom's life will be at 11 a.m. Monday, May 16, at Ranfranz & Vine Funeral Homes, 5421 Royal Place NW, Rochester. Visitation will be from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday, May 15, at the funeral home and one hour prior to the service. Burial will take place at Oakwood East Cemetery, Rochester.

In lieu of flowers, please donate to your charity of choice in memory of Tom. To share a special memory or condolence, please visit www.ranfranzandvinefh.com.