Thomas John Porro

PORRO Thomas John Porro, a 40-year Westport resident active in several local organizations, died Wednesday, November 7, at St. Vincent's Medical Center in Bridgeport. He was 83. The cause was a heart attack. Mr. Porro, son of the late Thomas and Maddalena Zaglio Porro, was born in Pittsfield, Massachusetts on September 17, 1924. He graduated from Pittsfield High School in 1941, earned a bachelors of arts degree at Columbia University in 1949, and completed a master's degree in Chemistry at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1958. After high school, he served in the U.S. Army in the Philippines during the later stages of World War II, ultimately attaining the rank of 1st Lieutenant. Tom married the late Lois Virginia Soons of New Hampton, New York in 1951. They shared a 55-year marriage until her passing in 2006. Tom spent the early part of his career working as a chemist for Eastman Kodak in Rochester, New York. He joined Perkin-Elmer Corporation in Norwalk, at the time an analytical instrument manufacturer, as an applications chemist in 1958, and held product management and senior scientist positions with the company over the course of a 35-year career. He made numerous contributions to the technologies of fluorescence and infrared spectroscopy, and was an active contributor, even after retiring, to professional societies, including the American Chemical Society, the Society for Applied Spectroscopy, the Eastern Analytical Symposium, and the Pittsburgh Conference on Analytical Chemistry and Applied Spectroscopy. Since the early 1990s, Tom was a key contributor to the establishment of the Chemical Heritage Foundation's Scientific Instrumentation Museum, to open in Philadelphia next summer, serving on committees to screen, inventory, collect, and curate various scientific instruments. He was an active member and contributed to the leadership of The Unitarian Church in Westport, serving on its Board of Trustees for several terms, including twice as Board chairman, concluding his latest term in September. He led committees that oversaw extensive renovations to the church's architecturally distinct roof and structure in both the late 1980s and late 1990s. He was a long-time amateur astronomer and volunteer for the Westport Astronomical Society, an active rock hound and member of the Stamford Mineralogical Society, and a member of the Westport Y's Men. Tom was a lifetime tennis enthusiast, playing at least two days a week throughout his adult life, and was a fixture at Saturday morning sessions at Longshore. He enjoyed photography, woodworking, sailing, fishing in a backyard pond, vegetable gardening, and working crossword puzzles. He also enjoyed traveling, both for business and pleasure. He vacationed with Lois for many years on Frye Island in Sebago Lake, Maine, and particularly reveled in a recent trip, accompanied by his daughters, to the Piedmont region of Italy where his parents were born. He is survived by his three children, Andrea Allen of Wellesley, Massachusetts, Gian Porro of Littleton, Colorado, and Elena Porro of Boston, Massachusetts; a sister, Zita Milne of Williamstown, Massachusetts; and two grandchildren, Elliot Allen and Adriana Porro. A memorial service celebrating his life will be held on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at noon at the Unitarian Church in Westport. In lieu of flowers, his family suggests donations in his memory to any of the following organizations: The Chemical Heritage Foundation, The Unitarian Church in Westport, and the Westport Astronomical Society.