Thomas Kiley

1943 - 2020

Thomas Daniel Kiley
April 29, 1943 - December 2, 2020
Thomas "Tom" Daniel Kiley passed away December 2, 2020, surrounded by his family. He was 77 years old. He was a 40-year resident of Hillsborough, California. Tom was an attorney, entrepreneur, investor and board member of many corporate boards, principally in the life sciences. Tom is survived by his wife of 52 years, Nancy Lynn, his children Sean Thomas Kiley (Victoria), Alison Chaput (Marc), and Ryan Patrick Kiley, and six grandchildren (Natalie, Paul, Andrew, Brandon, Lauren and Phillip). He also leaves behind his sister, Anne, and his brother, John.
Tom was born on April 29, 1943, in Swissvale, Pennsylvania. He attended Penn State University and graduated in 1965 with a BS in Chemical Engineering. While attending George Washington Law School (1966-1969), he was employed first as a U.S. patent examiner and subsequently in the DuPont law department as a patent agent.
He practiced intellectual property trial law from 1969-80 at Lyon & Lyon in Los Angeles. In front of the Supreme Court and as an agent for Genentech, he authored the argument adopted by the majority in Diamond vs Chakrabarty affirming patents on new life forms. He was an officer of Genentech from 1980-1988, serving variously as VP and General Counsel and VP, Corporate Development.
Tom served on the Board of Trustees of the Hospital de la Familia for seven years. The Hospital provides services to the people of the San Marcos province in Guatemala.
He was a long-time subscriber of the San Francisco symphony. He was a man of many interests and a voracious reader. He was a poet. Tom was a member of the Family Club and the Pacific-Union Club – both of which he greatly enjoyed. He was a lover of good food and shared meals, an excellent cook. He fished and traveled all over the world. He relished his role as a husband, a father, and a grandfather. He was an avid painter of Halloween pumpkins, builder of derby cars and a kid at heart. He has been described as having "an active intellect and innate sense of fun."
Donations can be made to the charity of your choice.
"Perhaps it is right the best parts of people we have treasured still live within us, very like treasures they buried there; as seeds we are to care for, and bring again to life in gardens of our own cultivation." – Tom Kiley