Born in Ridley Park, Pa., Tom came to Princeton from Interboro High School in suburban Philadelphia, where he excelled academically and as a baseball pitcher. At Princeton he joined Cottage Club, majored in psychology, and set two Princeton pitching records that stood for four decades.
Tom met Wellesley student Bonnie Burton Kime on a 1964 trip with the Chapel Choir. They married in 1967 and would have celebrated their 50th anniversary in June 2017.
After earning a Ph.D. in biological psychology from Duke, Tom joined the psychology department of the University of Delaware, where he rose to department chairman and associate dean for research and graduate studies. In 2000, he and Bonnie moved to San Diego State, where he served as vice president of research and graduate-school dean until his retirement in 2014. He was widely recognized as a pioneer in the neuroscience of taste sensation.
A gifted communicator, for five years Tom broadcast a weekly science commentary on the KPBS program San Diego Science. He was board chairman of Friends of Balboa Park.
Tom is survived by Bonnie, daughters Heather and Heidi, son Ethan, and six grandchildren. The class extends its sincere condolences to them all.