Thomas Vasil

“Blessed is he who plants trees under whose shade he will never sit.”

Thomas Vasil never met a crossword puzzle he couldn’t beat, and he solved even the hardest with true Greek confidence: in pen. He was a chemical engineer who baked apple pie from scratch, and a marathon runner with an artist’s eye for the fine details that bring a face or a landscape to life. He was an avid reader who could teach himself how to do just about anything by reading a book, including how to build a house.

He was part improvisation (his jazz records inspired a love of music in his sons, and his inventive craftsmanship left every project just slightly different from the blueprint) and part uncompromising precision, holding every formula, every measurement, and every brushstroke to his own exacting standard.

Beneath his “bah humbug” exterior was a deep thinker who used his intelligence to try to leave the world better than he found it. He wrote to his representatives whenever he thought the government had gotten something wrong. He was so frugal he wouldn’t indulge in buying himself grapes at the grocery store, but he still gave generously to causes he believed in.

Fiercely independent and full of dry wit to the very end, he sailed away peacefully on October 10, 2026, at 99 years old.

Tom was born Athanasios Vasilopoulos in Chicago on September 12, 1927, to hardworking Greek immigrant parents. He liked to think he’d inherited a few genes from the ancient Greeks who made all that fine art. As a boy he built model airplanes from balsa wood and tissue paper. In fifth grade he drew the Parthenon so well that his teacher asked for more. He refused, because being teacher’s pet did not suit him. He would often recall working long hours in his father’s restaurant and the strict Greek family traditions that shaped him.

Tom served in the Navy at the end of World War II, an experience he said made him grow up in a hurry, and the GI Bill carried him back to school. He earned a degree in Chemical Engineering from the Illinois Institute of Technology (IIT), a program few made it through and one of his proudest accomplishments. On January 28, 1950, he married Ann Leppert.

His career carried his young family as far west as Death Valley, California, then to Tennessee until Celanese brought them to Rome, Georgia, around 1965. At work, he liked to invent solutions to solve problems; he was a fan of getting things done. Ann announced she was never moving again, and he built his home on a piece of land ten miles north of town. He loved that land and the birds that sang it awake each morning. He also worked at Trend Mills and retired from Coronet Carpet in Dalton.

After Ann passed away in 2010, Tom took up painting full time. He admired Van Gogh for making the ordinary extraordinary, and he wrote that he longed to put colors together that defied the rules of good judgement, a tall order for a chemical engineer. He didn’t believe anyone ever truly masters an art; the point was to express yourself in your own way. His paintings have been on display at Harris Arts Center in Calhoun, Charles C. Parker Center for Active Adults, and Brookdale Senior Living.

He held everyone, himself included, to impossibly high standards. He will be remembered for those standards, for his generosity, and for his brilliant grin.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Ann Leppert Vasil; his sons, Harvey Anthony Vasil and Thomas John Vasil; and his sisters, Doris Skountzos and Gladys Russell. He is survived by his daughter, Carol Vasil Taylor (Robert), and his son, Steven Henry Vasil (Kimberly). He was also uncle to two nieces (Margaret and Linda) and two nephews (John and Peter). His five grandchildren and nine great-grandchildren were lucky to enjoy the best sides of this man of contradictions: the twinkling eyes and the tough love, the exacting questions and the contributions to their college funds.

Family and friends are invited to celebrate his life on Saturday, November 14, from 2 to 5 p.m., at the home he built. Please contact tomvasil2026@gmail.com for details. Donations in his honor can be made to the Sierra Club or Doctors Without Borders.