Thomas Marshall Gibson, 97, of Hinsdale died at home while in hospice care April 14, 2024.
Tom was born in Chicago in 1927 to Humphrey and Ethel Gibson and reared in that city. He attended Culver Military Academy in Culver, Ind., and graduated in 1945.
Tom attended the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana and the University of Arizona, and was a member of the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity. Before he graduated, he left school to join his father in the family business, Gibson Electric Co., which was started in Chicago in 1912 by Tom's grandfather. After his father, Humphrey Gibson Jr., died in 1964, Tom became its president.
During his tenure, the business grew to become one of the largest electrical contracting companies in the country, employing more than 1,000 electricians. Among the projects they worked on were the Harold Washington Library, Rush University Medical Center, Marshall Field's, the Tribune Tower, WGN Studios, the Art Institute and O'Hare Airport. Based in Downers Grove, Gibson Electric is part of the Emcor Group. Tom fostered a business culture that placed high value on employees. Many of them worked there for decades. Among electricians, a job at Gibson Electric was considered a prestigious position.
A natural leader, Tom also served as president and board member of the National Electrical Contractors Association, the Chicago Electric Association and the Chicago Building Congress. The I.B.E.W. conferred honorary membership to Tom for outstanding service to the industry. He also received the Electric Industry's Man of the Year award, and was inducted into the Electric Industry's Hall of Fame, as was his father before him.
Tom was active in the Boy Scouts of America, serving in various executive positions and earning both the Silver Beaver and Silver Antelope awards. He was an avid golfer who joined the Chicago Golf Club in Wheaton in 1958, and was proudly Member No. 1 of Butler National Golf Club, having been invited by Oak Brook developer Paul Butler.
Tom had an excellent sense of humor and always was ready with an amusing quip. He excelled at telling funny stories, often with himself as the butt of the joke.
He leaves behind many good friends and admirers and his beloved Cavachon dog, Heidi, now 17.
He was preceded in death by his second wife, Cymala (Nitschmann) Gibson, in 2021 after a marriage of 47 years.
He is survived by his daughters, Linda Gibson and Carol Gibson; and his son, Terry Marshall Gibson.
Visitation is at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 24, at Sullivan Funeral Home, 60 S. Grant St., Hinsdale. A service will follow at the funeral home at 11:30 a.m.
Interment is private at Forest Home Cemetery in Des Plaines,
In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made online to the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research at www,give.michaeljfox.org, the American Heart Association at http://www.heart.org or K9s for Warriors at http://www.k9sforwarriors.org.
