2 September 2024
By Göran R Buckhorn
It is with deep sorrow we share the sad news that after a brave battle with cancer, our dear friend, rowing historian, scholar and writer Thomas E. Weil passed away yesterday.
Obituaries and memories of Tom will follow soon.
Thomas Eliot Weil, born 19 October 1948, died 1 September 2024.
Hear The Boat Sing 
very sad and unexpected news. RIP Tom.
Tom had many interests and great accomplishments, but I knew him best in the context of his passion for rowing,. He was a classmate (Yale 1970) of my late husband, Roger Skok Little, who admired Tom’s spirit, athleticism, and devotion to the sport. We had many good times at regattas and reunions, with never a dull moment. When my husband died, Tom went out of his way to reach out to me, to invite me to the next Harvard Yale race, and he even found a photograph of my husband from when he was coxswain/captain in the spring of 1970 that had been taken just months before we met. Of course I treasured this portrait of the young man I was about to meet, and then marry. Tom’s extraordinary interest and kindness over the years is a testament to his character–and to a kind of gentlemanliness that I hope is not left the earth with him and his fellow rowers.
Rest in peace, dear Tom.
Peggy–and I know Skok would send the same sentiments, only with more wit!
Dear Peggy ~ thank you for your rememberance of dear Tom. My wife and I were invited to Gales Ferry for the 2017 Yale-Harvard Race by Tom. We sat at the same table on that occasion, you, Tom, Mr Van Amringe, Mrs B. and I. I don’t know if you ever saw the article I wrote after that successful regatta for Yale. If not, here is the article:
Göran R Buckhorn,
Editor, HTBS
I loved Tom . . . and actually had the opportunity to express that about a year or so ago. Called him out of the blue and he and I talked for some time and he told me about his cancer.
I am sad. He was a good man. A moral man. Kind and generous and fun. Not to mention utterly honest — and dedicated to his rowing collection, which is bar none.
I’ve wanted to touch base with his siblings Richard and Sue.
I hope they’ll contact me @ airhero2@gmail.com
Julie Stratton