Tom Weston

Favorite dad sayings— • “I need that like I need a hole in my head!” • “Don’t be a nudnik!” when he was annoyed. • “I got bupkis!” when he couldn’t think of anything creative to say. • “Well, I’ll be damned!” when he was amazed. • He would answer the phone with “Duffy’s Tavern, Duffy ain’t here.” • “Did you grow up in a barn?” when we were too loud. • “Did you eat mud?” when we got in front of the TV and he couldn’t see. Favorite dad songs he would sing to us kids – • Coconut by Harry Nilsson • The Purple People Eater by Sheb Wooley • Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini by Brian Hyland • Day-O (The Banana Boat Song), Man Smart (Woman Smarter), Jump in the Line (Shake, Señora), Brown Skin Girl, by Harry Belafonte • Pagliacci, Act I: Recitar! – Vesti la giubba by Luciano Pavarotti. But really, he would play the whole album Leoncavallo: Pagliacci on what I later called “Pancake and Pavarotti Sundays.” • Oh, My Darling Clementine Favorite dad shows—the TV, radio or a record was always on in our house! • Sesame Street and Mr. Rogers • The Muppet Show – dad laughed more than I did! • I Love Lucy • Perry Mason • The Rockford Files • MASH • Hogan’s Heroes • Kojak • Benson • 60 Minutes • Faulty Towers • Frontline • Nova • Masterpiece Theater • Car Talk, NPR Radio Show hosted by Click and Clack (Tom and Ray Magliozzi) • A Prairie Home Companion hosted by Garrison Keillor on Minnesota public radio. We would hear the “News from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average."

When I met professor Weston at SDSU in 2010, I was a first-generation college student. He was the first professor who truly made me feel that I belonged—that I had earned my place in higher education. Though he was incredibly intelligent, he was deeply approachable and funny. He taught me not only how to engage with faculty with confidence, but how to question what I learned, think critically, and seek knowledge on my own. After I graduated, he invited me to join his reading group, where I continued to grow in wisdom & understanding. His lessons extended far beyond philosophy; he taught me about social justice, empowerment, and the responsibility we carry to think deeply and act with integrity. Today, working as support staff in the District Attorney’s Office, I carry his teachings and I am profoundly grateful for his guidance. His belief in me helped shape the person I am today and his legacy lives on through the lives he empowered

Having lived a life with far more ups than downs thus far it feels odd to express one of my few regrets in a public memorial on the internet. But not spending more time getting to know Uncle Tom is, in fact, one. It seems he and his brother needed a continent between them, much to the detriment of his nephews, who would have benefitted from his wisdom, kindness and community spirit. Our face-to-face interactions in my youth were pretty brief, but I was always struck by his gentleness, genuine thoughtfulness and laughter. Better still were his letters, where his tongue-in-cheek sense of humor leapt off the pages of the annual West Coast Mob Christmas missive, chronicling the exploits of his family with obvious joy and abundant pride. I so loved the family moniker idea that when I started a family we borrowed/stole it (not West Coast Mob - we go by Team Disco Buffalo). It seems that we would have gotten along swimmingly - his passions are my passions. Plus, he kept a very public record of his good works - the children he raised and the quality of people they have become. I cannot think of a better legacy than leaving us with kind, decent, caring people to carry your memories forward. The world is a little bit better for it. Good work Uncle Tom. Life well lived.

Tom taught me how to teach Logic. I was his teaching assistant at USC. After a gap of almost thirty years, I met with him on the SDSU campus, where I was participating in a faculty summer institute. Although we shared about the intervening years, details of our professional and personal lives, I failed to tell him that I owed my university teaching career to his support, encouragement, warmth, wisdom, and academic excellence. But Tom had another side, one that inspired me also. He was committed to his political views and our parallel experiences through the 1960s, me in SDS and Draft resistance, Tom as a committed anti Capitalism Communist (thank you for the photo of Tom at MIT hawking "The Spartacus/Workers' Vanguard",) was where his true brilliance shined and his humanity flourished. Lastly, if I may say, I am pleased to see that Tom had a lovely and loving family.

I never met Tom, but I have long been aware of him, as we share our name, an alma mater, and our professions overlap slightly. When I would instinctively search my own name on the library computer as an undergraduate at MIT, his dissertation would show up. Later, after I became a mathematician, he had 5 papers on logic and set theory from early in his career that would show up when you searched our name. I was always tempted in one of my own papers to begin by fixing a model of set theory just so I could reference those papers. As I said, I never met Tom, but I followed his career from a distance and I am sorry to hear of his passing.