Born and raised in rural Maine town with no traffic lights and a limited number of stop signs, Tom is a consummate Mainer. Tom savors all things Maine which are loosely defined by the four seasons of "sea scallop season"; "maple syrup season"; "raspberry season" and, of course, "apple picking season".
Tom is humbled by the Maine accent in his speech as it reminds him of his sense of place, where he comes from. However, Tom’s international colleagues and friends from away claim he is saving his “r’s” for later in life.
Two Mainers who Tom considers to be heroes are Francis Perkins, the longest serving Secretary of Labor in US history and Marjorie Standish whose cookbooks "Cooking the Maine Way" and "Keep Cooking the Maine Way" provide a daily source of inspiration.
Tom's has been fortunate that his research and teaching has taken him all over the world. He has taught classes to graduate MBA students under a Banyan tree in Nitte, India-(a huge honor reserved for special guests), trudged across a Finnish college campus in snow to a meet and colleague and discuss the concept of “social exclusion” in Seinajoki-(they have never heard of the concept of cancelling school or a meeting because of snow and he had never heard of the term social exclusion); and taught a class to Czech social work students on the “ism’s” associated with capitalism after visiting Dina Babbitt exhibit in Brno.-(Babbitt, a holocaust survivor and amazing painter)
Tom and his wife enjoy the sport of triathlon racing and can often be found running and biking the streets of Portland and beyond and swimming in Casco Bay.