Past Clarkson Trustee and Board Chair Thomas E. Holliday passed away yesterday. Serving as a trustee from 2000 to 2012, he was the long-time Secretary of the Board during that tenure and spent his last three years of Clarkson service as the Board Chair. A memorial service will take place at the California Club in Los Angeles on Sunday, August 25.
Tom retired in 2009 as a partner in the law firm of Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, where he served as the co-chair of the Business Crimes and Investigations Practice Group in their Los Angeles Office. He graduated from Stanford University in 1971, and from USC Law School in 1974. At USC, Tom served as an Executive Editor of the Law Review and was elected to the Order of the Coif. As a partner at Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, he was widely recognized as one of the firm’s best trial lawyers and responsible for spearheading one of the strongest white-collar law practices in the world. He was elected as a Fellow of the American College of Trial Lawyers and is a past recipient of the Defense Lawyer of the Year Award from the Century City Bar Association.
Tom will be remembered as a gregarious leader with a larger than life personality. In addition to weightlifting and a unique Kachina Doll collection, he was infamous for his extensive wardrobe of Hawaiian shirts, which he wore at many Clarkson functions. This led to the creation and sale of our own Golden Knight Hawaiian Shirt, which remains highly coveted by students, fans and alumni alike.
He is survived by his wife, Marci, his daughter Devon (Pothier), and his son, Trey.
Please contact Kelly Chezum, VP for External Relations and Assistant Secretary of the Board, kchezum@clarkson.edu, ext. 4483, if you would like more information.