Thomas Zimmerman

1943 - 2015

PEORIA - Dr. Thomas Zimmerman, 72, of Peoria passed away at 9:15 a.m. Friday, Dec. 4, 2015, at the OSF Richard L. Owens Hospice Home.

Tom was born Feb. 25, 1943, in Elgin, Ill., to Dr. L.E. and Mary Foley Zimmerman. He married Mary Ann Piner on June 10, 1967, in Algonquin, Ill.

She survives, along with three children, Thomas J. (Koki) Zimmerman II of Milford, Mass., Dr. Michael (Julie) Zimmerman of Leander, Texas, and Elizabeth (Shannon) Zimmerman Klune of Portland, Ore.; six grandchildren; two sisters, Patricia (Dr. James) White of Durham, N.C., and Barbara (Dr. Richard) Marcucci of Bedford, N.H.; and two brothers, Dr. James (Ingrid) Zimmerman of Woodside, Calif., and Dr. Bruce Zimmerman of Colorado Springs, Colo.

Tom was valedictorian of his Loyola Stritch School of Medicine class, and was a member of AOA Medical Honor Society. He served as past president of The Peoria Civic Opera from 1991 until 1994, and was a founding board member of The Women's Care Center in Peoria.

He was an active supporter of Catholic high schools in Peoria, and was a member of St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church. A devout Catholic who was active in many church-related charities, Dr. Zimmerman received some of the highest honors open to a layman. In 1998, he was named a Knight of Merit of the Sacred Military Constantinian Order of St. George, an order of chivalry whose roots go back to the Emperor Constantine the Great in the 4th century. He was subsequently awarded the distinction of the Order's Star. In 2000, he was invested as a Knight of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem, a Catholic order of chivalry under the protection of the Holy See, and was active in that group, serving for several years as the Order's delegate in the Diocese of Peoria and being eventually promoted to the rank of Knight Grand Cross. In 2001, the late Pope John Paul II appointed Dr. Zimmerman a Knight of the Pontifical Equestrian Order of St. Gregory the Great as "public expression of esteem on the part of the Holy See" for his contributions to the church locally, nationally and internationally. In 2002, he was admitted to the Sovereign Military Hospitaller Order of St. John of Jerusalem, of Rhodes, and of Malta (the Knights of Malta) as a Knight of Magistral Grace, the first lay member of the Peoria Diocese to be so recognized.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Wednesday, Dec. 9, 2015, at St. Vincent DePaul Catholic Church, with Father James Pallardy officiating. Visitation will be from 4 until 8 p.m. Tuesday at Wright & Salmon Mortuary, with recitation of the rosary at 8 p.m. Further visitation will be one hour prior to the Mass on Wednesday at the church. Entombment will be in Resurrection Mausoleum.

Memorials may be made to The Women's Care Center in Peoria or the Monsignor Livingston Education Fund at St. Vincent Grade School.

Friends may sign the online guestbook or send private condolences by logging onto www.wrightandsalmon.com.