Thomas Garvey

GARVEY Dr. Thomas Quincy Garvey (Age 49) Dr. Thomas "Tom" Q. Garvey, IV, JD, MD, of Lexington, MA, died June 9, 2020, of complications from cancer. He was the beloved husband of Kathleen M. Gillespie, beloved son of Dr. Thomas Q. Garvey III and Dr. Carol (Wilson) Garvey of Potomac, MD, and loving father of Benjamin Gillespie Garvey of Lexington. Tom was a kind, creative, humorous, and gregarious person who had many friends from the different places and times in his life. He loved practicing primary care medicine and developed close bonds with many of his patients. Tom loved singing and playing the guitar. He composed several clever songs of his own and had a broad repertoire of songs by others. Tom's first brush with cancer was as an 11 year old child, when he underwent a grueling two years of chemotherapy, several surgeries, and high dose radiation. At age 35, 3 new cancers were diagnosed, all in the original radiation field. When undergoing surgery in 2004, Tom began writing a series of humorous e-mails, which he later converted into a blog, about his medical experiences,both good and bad, using clever pseudonyms for his various physicians: https://tumoriffic.blogspot.com. The blog was dormant for several years, except for occasional frightening interpretations of his annual MRI scans, but it gained a large audience during his final year (fifth cancer), including many readers who had never met him.This cancer could not be removed surgically and did not respond to treatment. His blog postings are being assembled for eventual publication. Tom was born on July 30, 1970 in Washington, DC, and grew up in Potomac, MD. He graduated from the St. Albans School in 1988 and Harvard College in 1992. After working for several years as a technician in the laboratory of Dr. Fred Li at the Dana Farber Cancer Center, he entered Georgetown University School of Law, graduated in 1998, and was admitted to the Maryland Bar. He then entered the New York University School of Medicine, from which he graduated in 2002 and did his residency training in Internal Medicine at the Cambridge Hospital in Cambridge, MA. Tom married immigration lawyer Kathleen M. Gillespie in 2002 and gained not only an adored partner but also an efficient manager of his many medical appointments. He was thrilled by the birth of their son Ben, whom he later dubbed "the Professor," because of Ben's ability to expound knowledgeably and engagingly on any topic of interest to him. Tom Garvey practiced primary care medicine at Lahey Health Primary Care in Billerica, MA, and was an active volunteer for the Massachusetts Advisory Committee to Eliminate Tuberculosis, which he co-chaired for a number of years. He also served on the Massachusetts Medical Society's Committee on Environmental and Occupational Health. Donations in his memory may be made to Partners in Health, Boston Healthcare for the Homeless, Doctors Without Borders, or the Cambridge Health Alliance Foundation. A Memorial Service will be held at a later date. A Memorial Service will be held at a later date.