Thomas Patrick Lyons

1957 - 2022

Thomas Patrick Lyons
June 16, 1957 - January 2, 2022
Resident of San Jose
"I want to be improbable, beautiful and afraid of nothing, as though I had wings." This Mary Oliver poem perfectly describes Thomas Patrick Lyons, who passed away unexpectedly on Sunday, January 2 while hiking in his beloved hills around his home in San Jose. Tom was irrepressible, unfailingly optimistic, kind, honest and funny; a lover of finely engineered clocks and all things BMW (including more cars and motorcycles than one would could ever dream of owning); an avid and incredibly fit outdoorsman, a world class improviser and gabster, a leaver of random voice mails at all hours of day and night, a lover of craft beer and good tequila, of bad poetry and thrills and adventures, of Santa Cruz and of Whitefish, of the great American west, of spreading his wings in nature.
Tom was an unbelievably dedicated husband, father, son, brother, brother-in-law, cousin, nephew, uncle, friend, and neighbor. Of the many people he cherished in this world, none were more important and beloved than his dear wife Victoria Farrell and daughter Molly Lyons, both of San Jose. He is also survived by his father James Lyons Jr. of Margate, NJ; siblings Mary K Lyons and Earl Bennett of NJ, Barbara Lyons and Jeff Quarles and Jeanne and Steve Liedtka of PA, Mike and Joellen Lyons of TX, Carolyn Lyons and Chris Dangel of MA, Andy and Zilose Lyons of Berkeley, CA; and Jamie and Stacey Lyons of Maryland; brothers-in-law Jimmy and Eric Farrell of MA, and 20 nieces and nephews. He was dearly cherished and loved by all who knew him and will be missed deeply.
Tom was born outside of Philadelphia and spent most of his childhood playing tricks on his siblings in Rockville, MD. He graduated from Robert E. Peary High School and earned his undergraduate degree in accounting from St. Joseph's University in Philadelphia and his MBA from the University of Maryland. He worked for many years in risk management at Citibank, PNC Bank, Bank of the West and Ebay, and was an enthusiastic proponent of solar power and green energy. He was a dedicated and enthusiastic volunteer at multiple local organizations including Rancho Canada del Oro Open Spaces and a consistent Red Cross platelet donor.
Friends and family are invited to a funeral service on Friday, January 7 at 12:00 PM at the Holy Spirit Church at 1200 Redmond Road in San Jose, Ca. Recognizing the constraints of Covid, additional celebrations of Tom's life are being planned in both California and the Philadelphia area in the months ahead. In lieu of flowers, donations can be sent to the Open Space Trust at https://openspacetrust.org/donate/.


View the online memorial for Thomas Patrick Lyons