Gerard Thomas

THOMAS, Gerard
of Kalamazoo
Born September 13, 1925 in Utica, New York, Gerard Thomas was the only child of Mary Estelle Gerard and Danforth Roger Thomas. He died November 19, 2010 of natural causes at home with his family in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Thomas had a distinguished career as General Counsel and Vice President of the Upjohn Company, but his leadership in desegregating the Kalamazoo public schools in l970 and his role in the l981 Supreme Court case, The Upjohn Company and Gerard Thomas vs. The United States of America and David E. Nowak, will carry lasting significance.
Raised in Rome, New York, Thomas attended the local schools where his father was a principal, and his mother, a teacher. He attended Phillips Academy, Andover for a post-graduate year and entered Harvard in the fall of 1943. His studies at Harvard were interrupted when he enlisted in World War II. He was wounded at the Battle of the Bulge and awarded a Purple Heart. Following the war, he returned to Harvard and later earned his law degree from Cornell University in 1952. Thomas first practiced law at Winthrop, Stimson, Putnum, and Roberts in New York. In 1956, he accepted a position at the Upjohn Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan and remained there until his retirement in 1988. He was named Secretary and General Counsel in 1962 and two years later became Vice President and joined the Board of Directors. It was as General Counsel that Thomas met with company employees, promising confidentiality as Upjohn sought to determine the facts in a pending legal case. When the government demanded he turn over notes from those interviews, he refused. Ultimately, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in his favor in 1981 in what became a leading case in attorney-client privilege.
Thomas had a great commitment to Kalamazoo and volunteered his time to many organizations. Between 1969 and 1971, he served as President of the Kalamazoo Board of Education, and in the face of tremendous public opposition, he and the majority of board members voted in May l971 to desegregate the public schools in Kalamazoo, Michigan. In a 1981 interview, Thomas noted, "We had segregated education in Kalamazoo, and I don't believe in a segregated societya�"here or in South Africa." Thomas also played an important, early role in the Stryker Corporation, a leading manufacturer of medical devices. Chosen as one of the company's first two outside directors in l975 when it was still a small, privately-held, family company, Thomas, along with Burton Upjohn and Robert Stewart, oversaw the company after the tragic death of Lee Stryker in a plane crash in 1976 until a new C.E.O. was chosen and appointed by the Board. The man they selected to succeed Stryker was John W. Brown, who went on to lead the company for 27 years. Thomas helped take Stryker public in 1979 and went on to serve for 19 years as a Director of the company.
After retiring from Upjohn in 1988, Thomas joined the law firm Miller, Canfield, Paddock, and Stone, serving of Counsel for many years. With the support of Miller Canfield, Thomas helped establish the Law Clinic in l991in Kalamazoo, where local lawyers provide free legal services. In 2000, he was honored with the American Bar Association's Senior Division Pro Bono Award for his leadership in establishing and supporting the clinic. Thomas served on the boards of the YWCA, Planned Parenthood, St. Lukes Church vestry, and Lakeside for Children, in addition to serving as a director of Fidelity Savings Bank. He devoted many years seeking to beautify Michigan roads and limit billboards through his work with Scenic America. Along with his wife, he also pursued a deeply held belief in education, and together they were instrumental in implementing and expanding Reading Recovery, a literacy program for children who require specialized help learning to read, throughout the Kalamazoo public school system.
A gentle and humble person of great integrity, Gerard Thomas was once described as someone who led "quietly but capably." He had an immense appreciation for the beauty of nature, and above all else, a profound love for his wife and family. Thomas is survived by his wife of 54 years, Margery Hobson Thomas; daughter Monie T. Hardwick of Blairstown, NJ; son Danforth W. Thomas of Tokyo, Japan; daughter Anne T. McCormack of West Newton, MA; and eight grandchildren. Services will be held at the First Presbyterian Church, Monday, November 22 at 2 PM. Those wishing to make a gift in his memory may make a contribution for the benefit of the "Reading Recovery Endowment Fund" to the Kalamazoo Community Foundation, 151 S. Rose St., Suite 332, Kalamazoo, MI 49007. Arrangements by Langeland Family Funeral Homes, please visit www.langelands.com for complete obituary, guestbook, memories and condolences for the family.