Tom Jones

Builder, developer, two-time hall of famer and father of Tbaytel, Tom Jones died at 80.

Tom Jones was born in Belfast, Ireland on September 13, 1941, during WWII and immigrated with his parents TA and Mary Jones to Port Arthur, Ontario, Canada in 1947.

He was educated at local schools, P.A.C.I. and the University of North Dakota.

Coming from a construction family, he started working at a very young age for his father.

He started his own company Tom Jones and Sons in 1967. Later would come, Tom Jones Corporation and numerous other companies.

The company constructed many Thunder Bay landmarks such as Mini-Queens Park, Thunder Bay Mall, InterCity Mall, the Valhalla Inn and the CinePlex theatre. Additionally, they built a number of buildings at Lakehead University, including the ATAC building and medical school. They constructed the Government building on Water Street and along with Ellis Don, the Casino and the Thunder Bay Regional Health Science Centre. They also built, developed and manage all of the other buildings on the Hospital campus. The company additionally built Canadian Tires stores and roller-skating rinks all over the country from Nova Scotia to Alberta. In addition to dozens of buildings in the region such as the Nipigon and Dryden Hospitals. Their biggest contract was the Ontario government revenue building in Oshawa.

Since his retirement, a couple of years ago he said the companies are run by his son and three nephews. He said those boys know what they're doing and he's proud of the fact they are keeping his motto “On time and on budget” alive.

Tom wanted to acknowledge his wonderful employees that worked with him for over 30 years, particularly Mario Taddeo, Porter Bailey, Rick Klukie, David Moulson, David Bishop, Roy Nisula and Erwin Kuzmich. Additionally, he wanted to acknowledge a number of partners that invested in some of his many ventures; Richard Andison, Silvio and Bruno Di Gregorio, Ron Marostica, Harvey Cardwell, Brian Christie, Tony and Tulio Provenzano, Rick Ball, Edward Meijer and Moe Jones.

Tom's service to his community included serving on the Thunder Bay City council, two terms on the Board of Governors of Lakehead University, two terms on the TbayTel Board, life-long member of the Thunder Bay Autosport Club and the Hill City Kinsman Club and one term on the National Chamber of Commerce Board.

Tom created and organized several car rallies that raised money for cancer research and even organized a rally for the blind. He also formed a scholarship fund at Confederation College and another one at Lakehead University in his father's name.

Tom was in demand as a master MC and would provide his services for many local charity events. He was the MC for numerous sports celebrity dinners as well as Premier of Ontario dinners where nobody in the audience was safe from his wry wit.

His passion as a boy was auto racing and he competed in his first race at the Exhibition Track at the age of 17. He participated in numerous different disciplines of the sport and turned pro with American Motors in the 1967 Shell 4000 rally. He won his first world championship event at the Jamaican Carreras 1000-mile event in 1968. Racing and rallying took him all over the world with events in Australia, Monte Carlo, Italy, Belgium, England, France, Portugal, Spain and his home country of Ireland. Tom's greatest joy was driving a well handling race car through the field to the front, exceeded only by coaching and watching his sons drive and compete against some of the greatest drivers in the world.

In road racing he drove for Ford and won five national championships. He won over 150 events in the different racing disciplines worldwide. Tom was inducted into the Northwest Ontario Sports Hall of Fame and later into the Canadian Motorsport Hall of Fame in Toronto.

When last interviewed, Tom said his proudest achievement was his vision of creating a local telecom company. When he saw what happen after TELUS had bought the Edmonton Telephone department, Tom was concerned the same thing could happen in Thunder Bay. He appealed in 2003 to the then Mayor Peterson and other business-oriented counselors like Bill Scollie to turn the city telephone department private. Tom lobbied to have the likes of Don Paterson “who was a personal friend of the then Prime Minister” and the young Mike Power then the VP of the hospital, to serve. When the Board expanded, the wily old, retired University President Dr. Gary Polonsky joined, whom Tom knew from grade 2. With the new board in control, they immediately fired the existing manager and started the process of growing the new Tbaytel. Tom went to Calgary to approach Jim Shaw of Shaw Communications to see if they would consider selling their Thunder Bay cable network division. He was interested enough to fly back on his private jet the next week, but he and Tom couldn't come to an agreement. The board then decided to start their own cable network. Tom brought in two of his favorite consultants from the private sector, ace accountant Fred Stille and top business lawyer Jack Jamieson, to help with not only the creation of a new television division but growing the company through acquisitions and investments in new equipment and technology.

The real coup was when Tom found out his friend Don Campbell, the manager of Thunder Bays biggest paper mill (now Bowater) was about to retire. Tom proceeded to coerce him to come on board as the President of Tbaytel. Tom used every argument in his toolbox to convince him to become the new President. ”The City needs you, plus you would be working with colleague Dan Topatigh”. When he finally agreed Don's quote was “My wife Brenda is going to kill us both”. The rest is history. When the board took over, they inherited a 40 million dollar per annum telephone revenue and today Tbaytel exceeds 200 million in annual revenue. Besides 18 million in annual dividends, it provides countless donations and sponsorships throughout Northwestern Ontario and millions of added value to the City's net worth. The current president Dan Topatigh and the current Chairman of the Board Jack Jamieson are doing a stand-up job.

Tom greatly admired the Paterson and Andrews foundations, which inspired Tom and his family to join that elite group in serving the community of Thunder Bay.

As one of many immigrants to Canada, Tom was grateful and gave thanks to the country that gave him a chance.

Tom was predeceased by his parents TA and Mary Jones and sons Patrick and Michael. He is survived by his wife of 58 years Shirley, sons Tom (Linda), John (Robyn), Hunter (Helen) and grandchildren, Connor, Logan, Alex, Jaden, Brent, Jessi, James and Andreas and great grandchild Rowan. Sister Lois Tobin and family, brother John and family and brother-in-law Ron Junnila and family.

Tom was cremated and an Irish celebration of life will be held at a later date, when people can gather again. Tom hopes they will play his favourite song My Way by Frank Sinatra.

The family would like to thank Lori, Lauri Ann, Leanne, Katie and Mike from the dialysis unit for their care and compassion and Tom's good friend Dr. Allison.

In Lieu of flowers, donations to the TA Jones Scholarship fund at Lakehead University would be greatly appreciated. ( donate.lakeheadu.ca )