Thomas Franklin Storm

September, 1931 - November, 2022

Tom Storm was born in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, the only child of Thomas and Margaret Storm. He was a precocious child, who was restless quite early, hitchhiking across the country at thirteen, a trip which started well but ended up with a short stay in a California juvenile detention facility. By the time he finished high school, he was married with a son (also Tom), but he managed to get scholarships first to Temple University and then to Yale for graduate work. By the time he graduated with his doctorate in psychology he also had a daughter, Polly. He moved his family first to Athens, Ohio and then to Auckland, New Zealand, still searching for adventure. Vancouver was home for many years, where he became a tenured professor at the University of British Columbia. Finally, he worked at Mt. Allison University, where he contributed to the successful fight to unionize the faculty. In retirement he continued to collaborate and publish articles with his wife Christine Storm. His last days were spent walking the waterside trails of Port Hope, Ontario, where he had several favourite stopping points, including Debby Duck's bench along the Ganaraska river.
Tom had wide interests and was lucky in being able to pursue them. His academic research was in social psychology: alcohol studies and the language of emotions. He was involved in a study with a number of researchers in British Columbia, which was one of the first to cast a critical eye on residential schools in Canada. He loved art, music, and read widely, passing those interests on to his children, although his younger son, Nick, never did get through reading Tom's favourite book, The Magic Mountain. Throughout his life, he traveled extensively and ate well, enjoying cuisine both high and low, his own and others'. He loved roaming the beaches of New Zealand, the mountains of British Columbia, the Tantramar Marshes of New Brunswick and the shore of Lake Ontario. He felt very happy in his home among his supportive neighbours in Port Hope.
Tom will be dearly missed by his wife, Christine, his children Tom (Bojana), Polly (Randy), and Nick (Andrea), his grandchildren, Nadia, Zeno, Rachael, Randy Jr., and Ben and his great-grandchildren, Harry, Ashley, Zeno, and Galilea. Tom's family wishes to thank the wonderful staff at the VON Adult Day Program, who provided joy and fun in his last months and the amazing people at Ed's House. Please direct any donations to Ed's House (c/o Northumberland Community Care), so that it can continue to provide its excellent service for the Northumberland community far into the future. Tom's family will continue to think of him in the various places he loved or even when indulging in some of his bad habits, eating a piece of (formerly) penny candy or just a good hot dog.