Thomas E. Wainwright

Dr. Thomas E. Wainwright Ph.D. Sept. 22, 1927 - Nov. 27, 2007 Resident of Walnut Creek A man faithful to God and a loving husband and father, Tom passed away peacefully on Tuesday surrounded by his wife, brother, and 5 children, who loved him very much. Tom lived to see his 10th grandchild, Cody, born in August of this year. Tom was born to Eyre Bennett Wainwright and Susan Wainwright in Seattle, WA, and lived until age 4 in Southgate, CA. The family moved to Montana in 1932, where Tom grew up with his three brothers. As a boy, he delivered the Liberty Magazine and earned the rank of Eagle Scout; he attended Butte High School; attended the University of Utah in 1945 in preparation to join the US Army Air Corps in which he served through 1947 as a cryptographer on the island of Guam. Tom received a B.S. in Physics and Engineering from Montana State College in Bozeman, Montana and a Ph.D. in Physics from Notre Dame University in Indiana in 1954. He then moved to Livermore, CA and began his career at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. He met Mary Elizabeth "Beth" Long of New York in San Francisco. They were married in New York City in 1959 and raised their family of five children in Livermore. Tom was a devoted father who inspired his children with his Catholic faith, his love of life and family, his hard work, and his sense of humor. He took his family on many voyages of exploration across the USA, Mexico and Europe. These always included indulgence of his passions for archaeology and history and lots of hiking. Tom's work at the LLNL included research on the electron band structure of metals, nuclear weapons theory and design, nuclear weapons effects, theory of fluids and computational physics. He became Division Leader of the Theoretical Physics Division in 1971. Tom was a winner of the Ernest O. Lawrence Award in 1973. The Lawrence Award honors scientists and engineers for exceptional contributions in research and development. In 1974, Tom became a Fellow of the American Physical Society. He retired from the Lab in 1988 and continued as an associate into the early 1990's. Tom was a member of the California Genealogical Society. He enthusiastically regaled his family with stories of their ancestors going back to the 17th Century. He was also a member and past Treasurer of the P.G. Wodehouse Society, Blanding's Castle Chapter. Funeral at St. Mary's Church in Walnut Creek at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, December 1, with Tom's brother, Fr. Donald Gene Wainwright officiating. Burial at St. Michael's Cemetery in Livermore, California on Monday, December 3 at 10:30 p.m.