What a week. Upon receiving the happy news that my friend Bruce is ok and home from the hospital, I was given some sad news. My great-uncle Tom, one of my favorite relatives and overall people, passed away on Wednesday night.
Tom was one of those people who was always interested in what you were doing, and he wanted to explore and dissect every issue. I remember having Christmas dinner with him, my aunt Martha, and his daughter and grand-daughters a few years ago. The table was so alive with conversation and lively discussion. Disagreements and passionate offense or defense were normal fare at a Hartmann dinner, and I would always catch Uncle Tom chuckling to himself in the corner as the opposing arguments played themselves out, usually spurred on by something he instigated. My aunt Martha, forever strong, proper, and demure, rarely participated in these discussions, but you couldn't miss the smile forming at the corners of her mouth when someone made a particularly colorful remark.
Aside from his many accomplishments, Uncle Tom was first and foremost a family man. His daughters, Betsy and Darcy, were taught to be independent, thinking women who should be confident in being themselves.
I heard from my mother that right before he passed, he asked the question "Why am I dying?" While this may seem tragic, I saw it as Uncle Tom being himself - challenging life just as he challenged all of us, his inquisitive mind never willing to rest.
His was a life well-lived. In 85 years, he accomplished much more than any one of us can imagine, and affected so many people's lives. I feel like on of the world's mentors is gone, and I will miss his presence greatly.
Below is his obituary:
Thomas Buchan Hartmann of Montgomery Township, New
Jersey, died peacefully on November 7, 2007, at
Stonebridge, with his loving family by his side. He
was 85 years old.
Tom was born in Somerville, NJ, the youngest of four
siblings in the family of John A. and Janet Buchan
Hartmann. He was educated in local schools and then
attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts,
graduating in the class of 1941. He later served for
many years as class secretary.
He entered Princeton University in the fall of 1941,
and was one of the first Princeton undergraduates to
volunteer to serve in World War Two. He enlisted in
naval aviation and trained as a dive bomber pilot. He
selected the Marine Corps for his commission and
joined the Ace of Spades, the oldest Marine squadron,
as his combat unit. Stationed in the central Pacific
on Midway Island and the Gilbert and Marshall Islands,
he flew eighty-nine combat missions and received the
Distinguished Flying Cross with a cluster and an Air
Medal with two clusters.
He married Martha Bothfeld of Wellesley,
Massachusetts, on April 14, 1945. It was unusually
warm and happened to be the day of President Franklin
D. Roosevelt’s funeral. To the physical discomfort of
the guests and the political discomfiture of some, the
couple observed half an hour of silence in FDR’s
memory before their wedding ceremony.
In fall 1945, Tom returned to Princeton to complete
his undergraduate degree. Upon graduation, his first
job was as a history teacher at the Hun School in
Princeton. In honor of his inspiring teaching, the Hun
School Class of 1951 recently established the Thomas
B. Hartmann Faculty Fellowship Award. He later taught
at the Tower Hill School in Wilmington, Delaware, and
then became headmaster of St. Mark’s School in Dallas,
Texas.
He returned to New Jersey in 1963, and served as
Assistant Director of the NJ Office of Economic
Opportunity and as Deputy Director of the Governor’s
Commission on the Newark Riots of 1967. He helped to
develop Livingston College at Rutgers University, and
joined the faculty there as professor of Journalism
and Mass Media. In 1992 the University bestowed on him
the Presidential Award for Distinguished Public
Service, citing “his contributions to advancing and
understanding the development of public policy, his
extension of educational service to government by
placing student interns in public offices, and his
unselfish personal service to public institutions and
leaders at the municipal, state, and national levels.”
He worked closely with Senator Bill Bradley in his
campaigns.
His volunteer work was extensive. He served as chair
of the New Jersey Advisory Committee for the Foster
Grandparents program, and was a member of the Advisory
Committee for Channel 13. He was a founding member and
trustee of Outward Bound, USA. He also served a term
on the Princeton Township Committee. More recently, he
joined the Board of Trustees of New Jersey Policy
Perspective.
An avid sports enthusiast, he was a scout for the
Detroit Tigers baseball team and assisted the Women’s
Sports Foundation in their annual journalism awards.
He was a passionate golfer and belonged to the
Hopewell Valley Country Club where he spent many happy
hours.
Tom loved people and knew a great many. In a
proclamation issued on his retirement from Rutgers,
Governor James Florio of New Jersey noted that “Tom
Hartmann’s colleagues have been known to remark that
he has gone to school with, taught, or worked with
every person on the planet.” He had a prodigious
memory for people and events, especially concerning
New Jersey’s history and politics.
He is survived by his wife of 62 years, Martha; his
three daughters, Darcy Hartmann of Lafayette,
California, Betsy Hartmann of Amherst, Massachusetts,
and Anna Wexler of Brookline, Massachusetts; five
grandchildren; and his son-in-law James Boyce of
Amherst. A memorial service will be held December 1,
2007, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in
Princeton. In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to
the Thomas B. Hartmann Faculty Fellowship Award at the
Hun School.
