Thomas Russell Simkins II

Simkins Thomas Russell Simkins II, September 9, 1939 to July 10, 2015. He died on his own terms peacefully at home with family. Our father, Tom was an amazing, loving, witty, supportive, generous, full of humor and the most ornery dad anyone could ever ask for. When his children decided to write his obituary we knew we needed to write something a bit unique and fun to honor our father's life. He was "Mr. Smarty Pants" to the very end, so the way this will be written just felt very fitting for him. "Cakes and Pies are done"! People are finished! The famous correction of words between done and finished by Tom! Although our father is finished living life to the fullest with those he loved, he will always be remembered in our hearts, and our stories now and forever. Our dad adored his wife, Barbara Ann Wile for 44 terrific years. It was "love at first site". Dad would always tell us the story of how the first time he saw mom at WCOL when he told his friend Dan "I am going to marry that woman someday". Dad did always get his way! You could certainly see in our dads beautiful blue eyes that he loved that woman more than life itself even when mom drove him crazy being fashionably late! They had three beautiful children Aimee who married Daren, Michele, and Rusty who married Ali. Our dad was pretty opinionated, but the opinions were positive about Daren and Ali! Thank goodness! He had a love for peanut butter and mayonnaise sandwiches, pancakes with anything sweet on top, his red Mercedes, horses, listening to the weather channel and then watching the storms roll in, his mowing and vacuum lines, (thank you for teaching us how to use the big tractor and get the right lines), the show Cops, lots of Christmas lights on the house, (could be Griswold II), fixing house tasks with duck tape, fishing, pink shirts, band aids for his index finger, his dogs, taking his family on beach vacations, and watching his children play sports. Our Dad was a born leader. He served in the United States Army from 1962 to 1964. He was President of the student counsel at Defiance College, President of the Student Body at Defiance, President of Kappa Sig Fraternity, Columbus Junior Chamber of Commerce, Board of Directors Junior Chamber of Commerce, President of the Defiance Alumni Assoc., Trustee Fellow of Defiance College, Member of the Touchdown Club, the list continues. All of these things are of course super impressive and no surprise about our father. The born leader being our dad.we remember him being on The St. Brendan's and Watterson Board. He took his kids complaints to the top! And being on the Columbus Zoo Marketing Committee, and Board of Trustees. Go dad we love the animals. Most of all as kids we remember our dad being the President of our Swim Team. We felt like the son and daughters of the President of the United States and you could tell our dad felt that way each time he yelled "Swimmer's up" and shot off the start gun! Those were some great years with our dad. In the work world our dad was the "Godfather" of the radio/broadcasting business. He began his career in 1964 as an Account Executive with WCOL/WXGT and was named VP of Sales in 1978 - 1983. In 1983 he began working for WMNI/WBZX-FM as The General Sales Manager. In 1986 for the next 20 years dad was named the Vice President of Sales. Dad retired in 2004 from North American Broadcasting, which is owned by The Mnich Family who became our family's very dear friends. He also ALWAYS had to have a "hobby/side business". He was the President of Simkins Properties, Owned a Laundry Mat where his kids counted quarters on the weekends and watched wheel of fortune at the shop, but the best "side" business was The Simkins Tanning Station on 5th Ave. We could never figure out how the Tanning Station made any money. Between our dad's sales people and all his daughter's friends going tanning for free oops maybe dad never knew we let our friends go free!! Well he does now! PAPA took extreme pride in his three grandchildren Haylie, Tommy and Sammy. He loved taking them boating, playing "I spy" games with them and giving them dollar bills! On a serious note our dad was the type of father that taught his kids to be strong and giving. Our father's generosity and willingness to help others is the type of mentor every child should have. His kids feel very blessed and honored to have been chosen to be the ones that had Thomas R. Simkins as their dad. May you be in heaven watching over us and finding a good euchre game to take over and win! Thank you for being a great man, husband, father, grandfather and mentor to so many. You are already missed and will be forever. We love you Dad. Tom was survived by a WHOLE lot of people as our brother put it! Looks like dads humor will forever live with all of us. In Lieu of flowers, please donate to The National Parkinson Foundation Central and Southeast Chapter or The Alzheimer's Association Central Ohio Chapter. We will be having a Celebration of Life on Saturday, August 1 from 12Noon-4 p.m. (open house style) at The Boat House at Confluence Park, 679 W. Spring Street, Columbus, Ohio 43215. We will have some words about Tom around 1:30ish.