Thomas F. Hamill ’55 died on January 3, 2018, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

(The following was published in the Santa Fe New Mexican, January 4, 2018:)

Thomas Fairfax Hamill, 85, of Santa Fe, New Mexico, died peacefully on January 3, 2018 in Santa Fe. He was born in Greenwich, CT., the youngest son of James Fairfax Hamill and Esther Dette Hamill of Greenwich and New York City. Tom attended the High Mowing School in New Hampshire, Bowdoin College in Maine, the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture in Maine. He spent his early childhood in Walpole, New Hampshire and many summers with his family on Cape Cod where he eventually settled in Truro to pursue his art in the 1950’s and early 1960’s. During this time, Tom visited and fell in love with New Mexico’s high alpine desert mountains and stark southwestern landscape. By 1968, he permanently settled in Santa Fe and became an integral part of the burgeoning community of bohemian writers, painters and musicians, to the extent that a novel from a best-selling author from that era was dedicated to “The Big Cheese,” as Tom was affectionately known in Santa Fe. Tom was an avid hiker and naturalist, exploring by foot the Sangre de Cristo mountains where he was inspired by the rocky landscapes that were often part of his sketches and paintings. He loved to travel throughout the west, visiting National Parks and other inspiring western sites. When he wasn’t painting, Tom could be found reading “good” literature, with a particular love for critical history tomes. Tom lived to express the joy of his individuality through his art, words and even his dance! Tom was predeceased by his parents and two brothers, James Fairfax Hamill and William Dette Hamill. He is survived by his six nieces and nephews. Susan Hamill of Cumberland, Maine; Sherwood Hamill and his wife Angela of Portland Maine; Elizabeth Hamill and her husband Trevor of Falmouth, Maine; Anne Hamill and her husband Steven of Salt Lake City, Utah; William Hamill of Park City, Utah; and Lisa Hamill of Chapel Hill, North Carolina; and his great nieces and great nephews, Finn Wolff, Charlotte Wolff, Alanna Hamill, Marin Hamill, Lauren Slade and Ian Slade. Tom was very much loved by his family and friends. His family extends their heartfelt thanks to the doctors, nursing and hospice staff of St Vincent Hospital, and to others who knew him and were part of his life while residing on Canyon Road and Luisa Street.