Thomas E. Wilson

1942 - 2024

9/14/1942 - 9/6/2024
Departed this life on September 6, 2024. For thirty happy years before his death, he was the beloved husband of Charlie Moses Wilson. Tom is survived by Charlie and his children from a prior marriage, Zachary Wilson and Neville Wolf.
Tom's father, Edward C. Wilson, served in the Office of Naval Intelligence during WWII and then as a Foreign Service Officer with the U.S. State Department. From 1948 to 1960, while his father served abroad, Tom attended schools in Spain, England, Washington, DC, and Cuba, including three fondly-remembered years with the Jesuits of Stonyhurst, and a high school graduation in Havana, Cuba in June 1960, amidst the tumultuous aftermath of the Cuban Revolution.
From 1960 to 1964, Tom attended Georgetown University where, during senior year, he was the ROTC Brigade Commander. Upon graduation, Tom was commissioned as Second Lieutenant in the U.S. Army (Infantry). Thereafter, he attended Georgetown Law Center receiving a Juris Doctorate in 1967.
After Georgetown Law, Tom entered active duty and attended the U.S. Army Infantry and Airborne Schools at Ft. Benning, Georgia, and the John F. Kennedy Special Warfare School at Ft. Bragg, North Carolina. He later served in Vietnam with the 5th Special Forces Group (Airborne), 1st Special Forces Regiment. While in Vietnam, Tom was awarded a Bronze Star Medal, Combat Infantryman's Badge, and Vietnamese Parachute Badge. After military service, in 1970, Tom earned an MBA from Columbia University in New York City.
From 1970 to 2013, Tom practiced law in New York and Washington, DC. During his legal career, Tom specialized in White Collar Criminal Defense representing clients in numerous significant matters including the Iran-Contra Affair, Clinton Passport Investigation, Monica Lewinski Matter, FBI's Ruby Ridge Investigation, the CIA's Cold War drug program, MKULTRA, and the Blackwater-Nisour Square Incident in Baghdad, Iraq. Mr. Wilson was lead counsel in numerous matters before appellate tribunals, including the United States Courts of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court.
For nearly thirty years, Tom was a faithful parishioner at The Falls Church. From 2006 to 2008, he served as Senior Warden of the Vestry when the congregation voted to depart The Episcopal Church in favor of the Anglican Church of North America. Then, from 2006 to 2009, Tom served as Chairman of the Anglican District of Virginia, which became the Anglican Diocese of the Mid-Atlantic.
Throughout his life, Tom was an inveterate reader and gifted storyteller. His friends were astonished at Tom's extraordinary recall of the details of what he read and his ability to extract from his reading profound lessons of life and history. Tom had a passion for engaging young adults with his extensive knowledge of history, theology, philosophy, and science for the purpose of demonstrating the intellectual integrity and logical coherence of the Christian worldview. Tom was a C.S. Lewis Fellow and, like Lewis, Tom was widely known as a fearless expositor of the Faith with a gift for relating biblical principles in a way that brought them to life and made them crackle with relevance.
Tom's faith in Jesus Christ strengthened him, especially during his later life, and assured him of his future and now present home with the Lord in Heaven. The same assurance now comforts his dear wife, Charlie, and his many friends now that Tom is absent from the body and present with the Lord. (2 Cor. 5:8).
A memorial service will be held at 3:30 p.m. on October 25, 2024 at All Saints Church in Pawley's Island, South Carolina, where Tom and Charlie lived for the past four years. An internment service will take place at Arlington National Cemetery in an estimated 12-18 months along with a commemoration at The Falls Church.
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the C.S. Lewis Institute or the Thomas More Society.