Dr. Thomas J. Maloney, Jr.

Dr. Thomas J. Maloney Jr., 82, of Fort Collins, died after a courageous battle with progressive bulbar palsy on May 6, 2005, at Poudre Valley Hospital. He was born on Nov. 16, 1922, in Arlington, Mass., the son of Doris Edwards Maloney and Thomas J. Maloney. He grew up in Brookline and Needham in Massachusetts and graduated from Needham High School in 1940. He attended Northeastern University from 1940-41. During World War II he joined the Army and then the Marine Corps serving in a surveying unit in China at the end of the war. His observations of the living conditions of the Chinese people during this service profoundly influenced him the rest of his life. In January 1948 he graduated from Northeastern University with a B.S. in chemical engineering. He married Elizabeth Betty Gartner in Needham in February 1948. He worked as a chemical engineer for General Aniline and Film in Easton, Pa., from February of 1948 to August 1948. From 1948-49 he was a chemistry student at the University of Colorado at Boulder. While in Boulder he was active in the Unitarian Fellowship and felt the call to the Unitarian ministry. He obtained his Bachelor of Theological Science Degree in 1952 from Harvard University. From 1952 to 1956 he served as the minister of Unitarian Churches in Davenport, Iowa and Quincy, Ill. During this time he also completed his course work for a Master's and Ph.D. in Anthropology at Washington University at St. Louis. From 1956 to 1957 he worked at Westinghouse in Pittsburgh while also beginning work on his doctoral dissertation. From 1957 to 1962 he was the part-time minister for the Unitarian Fellowship in Boulder and also was an instructor of anthropology at the University of Colorado. From 1962 to 1967 he held the position of assistant professor of anthropology and sociology at New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, N.M. From 1967 to 1969 he served as a professor of Anthropology at Ripon College in Ripon, Wis. He ended his academic career as professor of anthropology at Southern Illinois University in Edwardsville, Ill., where he taught from 1969 to 1989. In 1989 he retired as professor emeritus and moved to Fort Collins. During the first 10 years of his retirement he volunteered with the Larimer County Search and Rescue, served on The Rural Land Use Board, and was active in the Fort Collins Chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union, the Democratic Party, Amnesty International, and Unitarian-Universalist Ministers' Association. Dr. Maloney traveled extensively in the United States, Central America, Asia and Europe. He returned to China four times and once took a sabbatical in Costa Rica. He participated in a Guatemalan human rights group and also marched with Rigoberta Menchu, escorting Guatemalan refugees returning home from Mexico. He traveled to Nicaragua to take pictures for Habitat for Humanity. His favorite activities included exploring the back roads of Colorado's high country in his jeep, photographing wild flowers, and fly fishing. He also enjoyed telling stories about his adventures. His favorite poem, "The Road Not Taken" by Robert Frost captured his wanderlust and desire to explore the world: "Two roads diverged in a wood, and I- I took the one less traveled by, And that has made all the difference." He is survived by Betty, his wife of 57 years; four children, Susan, of Mexico City, Mexico, Greta of Boulder, Lisa of Groton, N.Y., and Thomas J., of Worden, Ill.; seven grandchildren; and his cairn terrier, Salty. A memorial service will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers memorial gifts may be made to: Amnesty International USA, 5 Penn Plaza, 14th floor, New York, NY 10001 and the American Civil Liberties Union, 125 Broad St., 18th floor, New York, NY 10004.