Beloved husband, father and friend Thomas MacGillivray Humphrey, age 88, went home to be with the Lord on Saturday evening, September 16, 2023, after a brief period of hospice. His devoted wife of 66 years, Mitzi Greene Humphrey, was by his side. He is survived by their three children: Sheryl Humphrey (Edward Coppola) of Staten Island, NY, Thomas M. Humphrey, Jr. of Midlothian, VA, and Elizabeth Scarpino (Mark) of Richmond, VA; and by his only grandchild, of whom he was so proud, Isabel Rowan Scarpino of New Orleans, LA.
The eldest of four children born to Dr. Edward C. and Ruth MacGillivray Humphrey, Tom grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and Coconut Grove, Florida. (His siblings Lewis, Sally, and Porter all predeceased him.) He attended Central High School in Fountain City, TN and then the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, earning his BA and MS degrees in finance. It was there he met, courted and married Mitzi. Tom played collegiate baseball for the UT Volunteers, and briefly pitched semi-pro for the minor league farm team known then as the Knoxville Smokies — now the Tennessee Smokies. He had returned to UT for his masters degree on the GI Bill, after serving as an Army cryptographer in Würzburg, Germany, where he was stationed during the postwar Marshall Plan rebuild.
Tom received his PhD in economics from Tulane University in New Orleans, through the H. B. Earhart Fellowship. He taught at universities and colleges throughout the South, both prior to and after earning his doctorate, including Tulane, Wofford College, Auburn University, the University of Georgia, and Duke University — and early in his career served as Chair of the Economics Department at Saint Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC.
In 1970, Tom and family settled in central Virginia, where he worked as an economist in the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond for 35 years. His position as senior editor and historian of economic thought at the Fed allowed his writing and research to flourish. He formed treasured lifelong friendships there and he had the privilege of collaboration, periodic travel, and fruitful exchange of ideas with colleagues throughout the US and internationally.
His prolific contributions to the field of economics include many articles and citations in scholarly journals, encyclopedias, Richmond Fed publications, reports, monographs, and quarterlies; numerous book reviews and chapters in textbooks; essays in the financial press; and his authorship of 5 books on monetary policy and economic history and thought.
In addition to his paper presentations and panels at numerous conferences, Tom spent a season in 1983 in Palo Alto, CA as a Summer Research Fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies, then affiliated with the Hoover Institute at Stanford University.
In 2001, Tom travelled to Lund, Sweden to accept a medal for his scholarship relating to the late Stockholm School economist Knut Wicksell.
Concurrent with his FRB career, Tom served as adjunct/visiting professor and lecturer at academic institutions throughout Virginia, including the University of Virginia, Mary Washington College, Virginia Commonwealth University, George Mason University, and the University of Richmond. He also taught for a year at Open High School, then a newly-established alternative public school in Richmond's historic working-class Oregon Hill neighborhood.
Tom retired from the Richmond Fed as senior economist and research advisor in 2005, but continued producing occasional reviews, articles, and commentary — and coauthoring his fifth and final book, published in 2019 by the Cato Institute, where he had been a guest lecturer.
Tom was an avid runner for over 3 decades, overcoming several serious health challenges, including polio as a child, and was well known among the Richmond Roadrunners and Sports Backers. Locals of all ages recognized him on his routes throughout town, and from the many regional races and marathons he entered. Often the eldest runner in these events, Tom frequently placed in his age division. He considered completion of one Chicago and several New York City marathons major personal achievements.
He was also a born walker — in keeping with his Scottish heritage of hiking into the highland fields — and could be seen making his way through the neighborhood with the aid of a cane, sometimes several times a day, in his later years. He seemed to crave the autonomy of running, walking, and climbing stairs daily to his office on the 13th floor of the Fed — especially when that independence was exercised within the natural comaradery of a team, a pack of runners, or his group of friends who challenged and encouraged one another.
He so enjoyed movement, evident in his lifelong requirement for rocking chairs — at the office and at home — and his love of the ocean tide, his surprising dance skills, or even bopping his head at classical piano recitals. Rhythmic movement helped pace his thought/work process, a metronome throughout his days.
For most of his life he eschewed extravagance, preferring simple pleasures of classic films, music of all kinds (especially jazz on the radio), good vegetarian meals, art exhibitions and gallery openings, red wine, fish tacos, the warm company of cats and the affectionate energy of dogs, and talking comedy, culture, trivia and wordplay with friends and family. In later years, he enjoyed sitting outside in his rocker, reading or watching the squirrels, birds, foxes and other critters do their thing in his own backyard.
He was by turns solitary and sociable, gruff then good natured, eccentric but easygoing, sardonic and sweet, brusque and brilliant, sharp and sentimental, laconic and loving — a true idiosyncratic individual and old-school 'absent-minded professor' — full of character, contradictions and humanity. There will likely never be another Tommy Humphrey, not in our lifetimes anyway, and we who remain in this realm are richer for knowing him.
Rest easy now, Tom.
Your race is run, you finished strong.
Godspeed you home.
We love you and miss you, until we meet again.
The Humphrey family will receive friends and family in memoriam at Bliley's Augusta Chapel in Richmond, VA, 3801 Augusta Avenue, from 5:30-8pm on Wednesday October 4th, 2023.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M._Humphrey
The eldest of four children born to Dr. Edward C. and Ruth MacGillivray Humphrey, Tom grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and Coconut Grove, Florida. (His siblings Lewis, Sally, and Porter all predeceased him.) He attended Central High School in Fountain City, TN and then the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, earning his BA and MS degrees in finance. It was there he met, courted and married Mitzi. Tom played collegiate baseball for the UT Volunteers, and briefly pitched semi-pro for the minor league farm team known then as the Knoxville Smokies — now the Tennessee Smokies. He had returned to UT for his masters degree on the GI Bill, after serving as an Army cryptographer in Würzburg, Germany, where he was stationed during the postwar Marshall Plan rebuild.
Tom received his PhD in economics from Tulane University in New Orleans, through the H. B. Earhart Fellowship. He taught at universities and colleges throughout the South, both prior to and after earning his doctorate, including Tulane, Wofford College, Auburn University, the University of Georgia, and Duke University — and early in his career served as Chair of the Economics Department at Saint Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC.
In 1970, Tom and family settled in central Virginia, where he worked as an economist in the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond for 35 years. His position as senior editor and historian of economic thought at the Fed allowed his writing and research to flourish. He formed treasured lifelong friendships there and he had the privilege of collaboration, periodic travel, and fruitful exchange of ideas with colleagues throughout the US and internationally.
His prolific contributions to the field of economics include many articles and citations in scholarly journals, encyclopedias, Richmond Fed publications, reports, monographs, and quarterlies; numerous book reviews and chapters in textbooks; essays in the financial press; and his authorship of 5 books on monetary policy and economic history and thought.
In addition to his paper presentations and panels at numerous conferences, Tom spent a season in 1983 in Palo Alto, CA as a Summer Research Fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies, then affiliated with the Hoover Institute at Stanford University.
In 2001, Tom travelled to Lund, Sweden to accept a medal for his scholarship relating to the late Stockholm School economist Knut Wicksell.
Concurrent with his FRB career, Tom served as adjunct/visiting professor and lecturer at academic institutions throughout Virginia, including the University of Virginia, Mary Washington College, Virginia Commonwealth University, George Mason University, and the University of Richmond. He also taught for a year at Open High School, then a newly-established alternative public school in Richmond's historic working-class Oregon Hill neighborhood.
Tom retired from the Richmond Fed as senior economist and research advisor in 2005, but continued producing occasional reviews, articles, and commentary — and coauthoring his fifth and final book, published in 2019 by the Cato Institute, where he had been a guest lecturer.
Tom was an avid runner for over 3 decades, overcoming several serious health challenges, including polio as a child, and was well known among the Richmond Roadrunners and Sports Backers. Locals of all ages recognized him on his routes throughout town, and from the many regional races and marathons he entered. Often the eldest runner in these events, Tom frequently placed in his age division. He considered completion of one Chicago and several New York City marathons major personal achievements.
He was also a born walker — in keeping with his Scottish heritage of hiking into the highland fields — and could be seen making his way through the neighborhood with the aid of a cane, sometimes several times a day, in his later years. He seemed to crave the autonomy of running, walking, and climbing stairs daily to his office on the 13th floor of the Fed — especially when that independence was exercised within the natural comaradery of a team, a pack of runners, or his group of friends who challenged and encouraged one another.
He so enjoyed movement, evident in his lifelong requirement for rocking chairs — at the office and at home — and his love of the ocean tide, his surprising dance skills, or even bopping his head at classical piano recitals. Rhythmic movement helped pace his thought/work process, a metronome throughout his days.
For most of his life he eschewed extravagance, preferring simple pleasures of classic films, music of all kinds (especially jazz on the radio), good vegetarian meals, art exhibitions and gallery openings, red wine, fish tacos, the warm company of cats and the affectionate energy of dogs, and talking comedy, culture, trivia and wordplay with friends and family. In later years, he enjoyed sitting outside in his rocker, reading or watching the squirrels, birds, foxes and other critters do their thing in his own backyard.
He was by turns solitary and sociable, gruff then good natured, eccentric but easygoing, sardonic and sweet, brusque and brilliant, sharp and sentimental, laconic and loving — a true idiosyncratic individual and old-school 'absent-minded professor' — full of character, contradictions and humanity. There will likely never be another Tommy Humphrey, not in our lifetimes anyway, and we who remain in this realm are richer for knowing him.
Rest easy now, Tom.
Your race is run, you finished strong.
Godspeed you home.
We love you and miss you, until we meet again.
The Humphrey family will receive friends and family in memoriam at Bliley's Augusta Chapel in Richmond, VA, 3801 Augusta Avenue, from 5:30-8pm on Wednesday October 4th, 2023.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M._Humphrey
Beloved husband, father and friend Thomas MacGillivray Humphrey, age 88, went home to be with the Lord on Saturday evening, September 16, 2023, after a brief period of hospice. His devoted wife of 66 years, Mitzi Greene Humphrey, was by his side. He is survived by their three children: Sheryl Humphrey (Edward Coppola) of Staten Island, NY, Thomas M. Humphrey, Jr. of Midlothian, VA, and Elizabeth Scarpino (Mark) of Richmond, VA; and by his only grandchild, of whom he was so proud, Isabel Rowan Scarpino of New Orleans, LA.
The eldest of four children born to Dr. Edward C. and Ruth MacGillivray Humphrey, Tom grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and Coconut Grove, Florida. (His siblings Lewis, Sally, and Porter all predeceased him.) He attended Central High School in Fountain City, TN and then the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, earning his BA and MS degrees in finance. It was there he met, courted and married Mitzi. Tom played collegiate baseball for the UT Volunteers, and briefly pitched semi-pro for the minor league farm team known then as the Knoxville Smokies — now the Tennessee Smokies. He had returned to UT for his masters degree on the GI Bill, after serving as an Army cryptographer in Würzburg, Germany, where he was stationed during the postwar Marshall Plan rebuild.
Tom received his PhD in economics from Tulane University in New Orleans, through the H. B. Earhart Fellowship. He taught at universities and colleges throughout the South, both prior to and after earning his doctorate, including Tulane, Wofford College, Auburn University, the University of Georgia, and Duke University — and early in his career served as Chair of the Economics Department at Saint Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC.
In 1970, Tom and family settled in central Virginia, where he worked as an economist in the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond for 35 years. His position as senior editor and historian of economic thought at the Fed allowed his writing and research to flourish. He formed treasured lifelong friendships there and he had the privilege of collaboration, periodic travel, and fruitful exchange of ideas with colleagues throughout the US and internationally.
His prolific contributions to the field of economics include many articles and citations in scholarly journals, encyclopedias, Richmond Fed publications, reports, monographs, and quarterlies; numerous book reviews and chapters in textbooks; essays in the financial press; and his authorship of 5 books on monetary policy and economic history and thought.
In addition to his paper presentations and panels at numerous conferences, Tom spent a season in 1983 in Palo Alto, CA as a Summer Research Fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies, then affiliated with the Hoover Institute at Stanford University.
In 2001, Tom travelled to Lund, Sweden to accept a medal for his scholarship relating to the late Stockholm School economist Knut Wicksell.
Concurrent with his FRB career, Tom served as adjunct/visiting professor and lecturer at academic institutions throughout Virginia, including the University of Virginia, Mary Washington College, Virginia Commonwealth University, George Mason University, and the University of Richmond. He also taught for a year at Open High School, then a newly-established alternative public school in Richmond's historic working-class Oregon Hill neighborhood.
Tom retired from the Richmond Fed as senior economist and research advisor in 2005, but continued producing occasional reviews, articles, and commentary — and coauthoring his fifth and final book, published in 2019 by the Cato Institute, where he had been a guest lecturer.
Tom was an avid runner for over 3 decades, overcoming several serious health challenges, including polio as a child, and was well known among the Richmond Roadrunners and Sports Backers. Locals of all ages recognized him on his routes throughout town, and from the many regional races and marathons he entered. Often the eldest runner in these events, Tom frequently placed in his age division. He considered completion of one Chicago and several New York City marathons major personal achievements.
He was also a born walker — in keeping with his Scottish heritage of hiking into the highland fields — and could be seen making his way through the neighborhood with the aid of a cane, sometimes several times a day, in his later years. He seemed to crave the autonomy of running, walking, and climbing stairs daily to his office on the 13th floor of the Fed — especially when that independence was exercised within the natural comaradery of a team, a pack of runners, or his group of friends who challenged and encouraged one another.
He so enjoyed movement, evident in his lifelong requirement for rocking chairs — at the office and at home — and his love of the ocean tide, his surprising dance skills, or even bopping his head at classical piano recitals. Rhythmic movement helped pace his thought/work process, a metronome throughout his days.
For most of his life he eschewed extravagance, preferring simple pleasures of classic films, music of all kinds (especially jazz on the radio), good vegetarian meals, art exhibitions and gallery openings, red wine, fish tacos, the warm company of cats and the affectionate energy of dogs, and talking comedy, culture, trivia and wordplay with friends and family. In later years, he enjoyed sitting outside in his rocker, reading or watching the squirrels, birds, foxes and other critters do their thing in his own backyard.
He was by turns solitary and sociable, gruff then good natured, eccentric but easygoing, sardonic and sweet, brusque and brilliant, sharp and sentimental, laconic and loving — a true idiosyncratic individual and old-school 'absent-minded professor' — full of character, contradictions and humanity. There will likely never be another Tommy Humphrey, not in our lifetimes anyway, and we who remain in this realm are richer for knowing him.
Rest easy now, Tom.
Your race is run, you finished strong.
Godspeed you home.
We love you and miss you, until we meet again.
The Humphrey family will receive friends and family in memoriam at Bliley's Augusta Chapel in Richmond, VA, 3801 Augusta Avenue, from 5:30-8pm on Wednesday October 4th, 2023.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M._Humphrey
The eldest of four children born to Dr. Edward C. and Ruth MacGillivray Humphrey, Tom grew up in Louisville, Kentucky and Coconut Grove, Florida. (His siblings Lewis, Sally, and Porter all predeceased him.) He attended Central High School in Fountain City, TN and then the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, earning his BA and MS degrees in finance. It was there he met, courted and married Mitzi. Tom played collegiate baseball for the UT Volunteers, and briefly pitched semi-pro for the minor league farm team known then as the Knoxville Smokies — now the Tennessee Smokies. He had returned to UT for his masters degree on the GI Bill, after serving as an Army cryptographer in Würzburg, Germany, where he was stationed during the postwar Marshall Plan rebuild.
Tom received his PhD in economics from Tulane University in New Orleans, through the H. B. Earhart Fellowship. He taught at universities and colleges throughout the South, both prior to and after earning his doctorate, including Tulane, Wofford College, Auburn University, the University of Georgia, and Duke University — and early in his career served as Chair of the Economics Department at Saint Andrews Presbyterian College in Laurinburg, NC.
In 1970, Tom and family settled in central Virginia, where he worked as an economist in the Research Department at the Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond for 35 years. His position as senior editor and historian of economic thought at the Fed allowed his writing and research to flourish. He formed treasured lifelong friendships there and he had the privilege of collaboration, periodic travel, and fruitful exchange of ideas with colleagues throughout the US and internationally.
His prolific contributions to the field of economics include many articles and citations in scholarly journals, encyclopedias, Richmond Fed publications, reports, monographs, and quarterlies; numerous book reviews and chapters in textbooks; essays in the financial press; and his authorship of 5 books on monetary policy and economic history and thought.
In addition to his paper presentations and panels at numerous conferences, Tom spent a season in 1983 in Palo Alto, CA as a Summer Research Fellow at the Institute for Humane Studies, then affiliated with the Hoover Institute at Stanford University.
In 2001, Tom travelled to Lund, Sweden to accept a medal for his scholarship relating to the late Stockholm School economist Knut Wicksell.
Concurrent with his FRB career, Tom served as adjunct/visiting professor and lecturer at academic institutions throughout Virginia, including the University of Virginia, Mary Washington College, Virginia Commonwealth University, George Mason University, and the University of Richmond. He also taught for a year at Open High School, then a newly-established alternative public school in Richmond's historic working-class Oregon Hill neighborhood.
Tom retired from the Richmond Fed as senior economist and research advisor in 2005, but continued producing occasional reviews, articles, and commentary — and coauthoring his fifth and final book, published in 2019 by the Cato Institute, where he had been a guest lecturer.
Tom was an avid runner for over 3 decades, overcoming several serious health challenges, including polio as a child, and was well known among the Richmond Roadrunners and Sports Backers. Locals of all ages recognized him on his routes throughout town, and from the many regional races and marathons he entered. Often the eldest runner in these events, Tom frequently placed in his age division. He considered completion of one Chicago and several New York City marathons major personal achievements.
He was also a born walker — in keeping with his Scottish heritage of hiking into the highland fields — and could be seen making his way through the neighborhood with the aid of a cane, sometimes several times a day, in his later years. He seemed to crave the autonomy of running, walking, and climbing stairs daily to his office on the 13th floor of the Fed — especially when that independence was exercised within the natural comaradery of a team, a pack of runners, or his group of friends who challenged and encouraged one another.
He so enjoyed movement, evident in his lifelong requirement for rocking chairs — at the office and at home — and his love of the ocean tide, his surprising dance skills, or even bopping his head at classical piano recitals. Rhythmic movement helped pace his thought/work process, a metronome throughout his days.
For most of his life he eschewed extravagance, preferring simple pleasures of classic films, music of all kinds (especially jazz on the radio), good vegetarian meals, art exhibitions and gallery openings, red wine, fish tacos, the warm company of cats and the affectionate energy of dogs, and talking comedy, culture, trivia and wordplay with friends and family. In later years, he enjoyed sitting outside in his rocker, reading or watching the squirrels, birds, foxes and other critters do their thing in his own backyard.
He was by turns solitary and sociable, gruff then good natured, eccentric but easygoing, sardonic and sweet, brusque and brilliant, sharp and sentimental, laconic and loving — a true idiosyncratic individual and old-school 'absent-minded professor' — full of character, contradictions and humanity. There will likely never be another Tommy Humphrey, not in our lifetimes anyway, and we who remain in this realm are richer for knowing him.
Rest easy now, Tom.
Your race is run, you finished strong.
Godspeed you home.
We love you and miss you, until we meet again.
The Humphrey family will receive friends and family in memoriam at Bliley's Augusta Chapel in Richmond, VA, 3801 Augusta Avenue, from 5:30-8pm on Wednesday October 4th, 2023.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_M._Humphrey
Family Members
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
