He was born and grew up in Lowell, Massachusetts, along the Concord and Merrimack rivers. After graduating from public high school in 1958, he served in the U. S. Army for three years, part of the time in Alaska.

Following his military service, he studied at Northern Essex Community College in Haverhill downriver from Lowell. He helped establish the school's literary journal called Parnassus, which has won awards and is still active. He enrolled at Salem State College (now Salem State University) in Salem, Mass., earning a bachelor's degree in English in 1968.

He then returned to Alaska for a Master of Fine Arts degree at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks. As a faculty member at the Anchorage campus (1970-1994), he taught English and creative writing and for a time chaired the department. Tom was a founding editor of the highly regarded and nationally distributed Alaska Quarterly Review. In 1995, the Alaska State Council on the Arts appointed him to serve a term as Poet Laureate of the state. Tom lived in Anchorage with his wife, Sharyn

Photo by Kevin Harkins

Books

Dark Cloud in Isabel Pass
Bridge Street at Dusk
Cummiskey Alley