Obituary: Thomas Howard, 63

From Shaughnessey Banks Funeral Home:

Thomas Howard, loving and beloved husband, father, sibling and friend, well-respected economist and lifelong adventurer, died at the age of 63 while mountaineering in the Adirondacks. Many will remember him for his deep morality, his thoughtfulness, his loving nature, his intellectual capacity, his generosity, and his playful sense of humor.

Thomas Andrew Howard was born on Oct. 8, 1958, in Richmond, Virginia, to Rufus and Martha Howard, the fourth of seven children. At both the Highgate School in London and at Hopkins School in New Haven, he was an avid track and cross country runner, at one point setting the 10K record in Britain for his age group. While a student at Dartmouth College, he studied math under John Kemeny and became his teaching assistant. He completed an honors thesis exploring the equations and logic required to teach computers to talk. He went on to acquire a doctorate in economics from Yale University, where he expanded on an interest in econometrics and completed a dissertation on employment uncertainty under advisor Robert Shiller.

Over the course of a 40-plus-year career, Tom worked as a computer programmer for the Pentagon, a macroeconomist for Fuji Bank, and a consultant for Arthur D. Little and PIRA Energy. He was skilled in forecasting, econometrics, data analysis, and formulating options trading strategies. His other employers included Louis Dreyfus, Statoil, and, most recently, the Department of Defense.

Tom was an accomplished mountaineer and hiker. He spent over 40 years climbing some of the most challenging mountains on the globe: ascending Mount McKinley, Mount Huascaran in Peru, and Xixabangma Peak in the Himalayas, to name but a few. He hiked the 273-mile Long Trail in Vermont and the entirety of the 2,000-mile Appalachian Trail, from Maine to Georgia. In October 2021, he crossed the entire White Mountain Presidential Range in one day. Tom aspired to climb the second-highest mountain on each of the seven continents and had finished the first part of this journey when he scaled Mount Kenya in the fall of 2021.

Tom is survived by his wife, Zhu Zhang Howard (Julie), and daughters Gwendolyn and Madison Howard. He met Julie while working in New York; they were married in 1993, and moved to Westport in 1997. He is also survived by his six siblings, Margaret Paar of Niantic, James Elbert of Wallingford, Amy Howard Chase of New Rochelle, Mary Howard of Branford, Martha Howard of Guilford, and Emily Howard of Washington, DC; and many nieces and nephews.

Visitation was held March 25 at the Courtyard Marriott in Norwalk. A Funeral Mass was held March 26 at St. Luke Catholic Church in Westport, and was followed by a reception.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in the name of Tom Howard to Search and Rescue of the Northern Adirondacks, benefitting search and rescue efforts in the Northern Adirondacks, or to St. Luke Catholic Church. SARNAK's Paypal can be found at https://www.paypal.com/fundraiser/charity/1358274 and St. Luke's Paypal can be found at https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/SaintLukeRCChurch?locale.x=en_US.