PH.D Thomas Mills Lasater

1940 - 2010

PROVIDENCE, R.I. Lasater, Thomas Mills, Ph.D., age 69, died Monday, November 22, at Miriam Hospital in Providence, R.I.
He was an internationally renowned behavioral health researcher and founding director of the Institute for Community Health Promotion at Brown University.

He was the beloved husband of Angie Soares Lasater. Born Dec. 30, 1940, in St. Louis, Mo., he was a son of the late W.D. "Bigun" Lasater and Alice Malzahn Lasater. In 1944, his father moved the family from work in the oil fields of the Midwest to Pecos, where they partnered with Bigun's father, Roger Lasater and brother Mills in the ranch near Pyote. He was a 1959 graduate of Pecos High School. He attended New Mexico State University, where he earned a B.S. in Psychology and received his Ph.D. in Experimental Social Psychology at the University of Houston.

After graduation, he taught at the U. of Alabama in Birmingham and initiated various community health research projects, including a precursor to the Head Start Program. In 1979, he joined Richard Carleton at Brown University to co-write the initial Pawtucket Heart Health Program grant which was funded early in 1980 and was the largest funded health education grant in the history of the National Institutes of Health.

Former President of the Rhode Island Public Health Association, he served on numerous public health committees and boards, and he was involved in the design of community-based health programs throughout the United States and Canada. He authored hundreds of journal articles detailing his research findings and was a highly respected consultant and frequent speaker at public health conferences both in the U.S. and abroad.

In addition to his wife, he leaves a daughter, Meghan Lasater Taylor of San Rafael, Calif.; two grandchildren, Claire and Thomas; his brother, James D. Lasater and wife Barbara of Plano, Texas, and their children, niece Kellye Bos and nephew Aaron Lasater, both of Plano, Texas. Also surviving are his Aunt, Mallie Lasater of Mertzon and her daughter, cousin Linda Lasater; and cousins Frank, Ed, Roger Dale and Andy Lasater.

A funeral service for Dr. Lasater took place Monday, Nov. 29, at Mount Hope Community Baptist Church in Providence. A second service will take place on Wednesday, Dec. 1 at 10:30 a.m. at the United Methodist Church in Mertzon, Texas, with burial in the family plot in Mertzon Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations were respectfully requested to the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, PO Box 1000, Dept. 142, Memphis, TN 38148.