Thomas Andrew

On December 24, 2014, Tom passed away with family and loved ones around him.

Thomas Fredrick Andrew was born January 13, 1943 to Fredrick W. Andrew and Florence E. Phillips Andrew. Tom's family included brother John Henry Andrew and sisters Mary Alice Andrew Camp and Jane Elizabeth Johnson Renick.

Tom's mother passed away before he was two years old and his father died when he was fourteen. After living with his older siblings John and Mary for a year, he lived with the Wallace and Vi Hanson family until he graduated a proud member of the Duluth Central High School Class of 1961.

Tom was thirteen when he realized he wanted to become an attorney. With the assistance of a Hunt scholarship, he graduated Magna Cum Laude from UMD in 1964. With an additional scholarship from the University of Minnesota Law School, he received his Juris Doctorate degree in 1967 Cum Laude and received the Order of the Coif.

For the next 47 years, Tom practiced law in Duluth, Minnesota. He was a member of the law firm of Van Evera, Mundt, Koskinen, Clure, and Andrew for 17 years and then a member of the law firm Brown, Andrew, Signorelli, Hallenbeck and Zallar until 2006. He concluded his practice with son Timothy Andrew and friend Aaron Bransky. Tom initially had a broad litigation practice but then developed a specialty in labor and employment law. He gave his employer, union, and employee clients' common sense and thoughtful advice, but it was his skilled and determined advocacy on their behalf that set him apart. Tom's most satisfying cases were those in which he defended or advanced the rights of working people.

Tom met and fell in love with Jeanne Agostino and, in 1986, they were married. She would be the one to make him forfeit his "ten year rule" for marriage. For twenty-eight years, Tom and Jeanne shared an adventurous life of travel both at home and abroad that included canoe expeditions, snorkeling, museums and theatre. Traveling with Tom was like having a personal tour guide and concierge rolled into one. He had boundless energy and would create exciting itineraries. He once used those traits to give his aging father-in-law, Sam Agostino, the trip of a life-time by taking him to Italy, the home of Sam's parents' origin.

Tom was thirty-seven years old when he tapped into his athleticism. Possessing natural ability and a competitive spirit, he challenged himself and others in running, bike racing, and triathlons. These venues included the Boston Marathon, the Edmund Fitzgerald Ultra-Marathon, and the "Holy Grail" of distance running, the Western States 100 miler.

Tom was in his element whether sharing a laugh with a grandchild; arguing a case before the Minnesota Supreme Court; up a tree with bow and arrow; in a Manhattan theater; completing a 100 mile run; or climbing the stairs of an obscure cathedral in Europe but, most often, it was simply gathering with family.

When Tom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2012, he resolved to not live out the rest of his life chasing a cure. Instead, he selflessly made all the arrangements for his passing and then he lived as he always had, traveling and spending time with family and friends.

This attempt to capture the "essence" of Tom would be incomplete without mentioning one of his most shining attributes, an attribute that was uniquely Tom. When you were in Tom's company, he was completely present.

Finally, when we consider Tom's life, we borrow from Dr. Seuss and say, "Don't cry because it is over. Rather smile because it happened."

Tom is survived by his loving wife, Jeanne, his children John Cory Andrew (Koneta), Timothy Warren Andrew (Laura), Mitzi Beth Baines (Brandon), and Hal Fredrick Andrew (Dawn), stepsons Nathan and Aaron Bubacz. Tom is also survived by his twenty-one grandchildren, Timothy Warren Andrew, Jr., Maria Karen Andrew, Megan Rebecca Andrew, Thomas Cory Andrew, Anna Raquel Baines, Leah Rene Baines, Moriah Leslie Baines, Isaac Benjamin Baines, Noah Andrew Baines, Sophia Barbara Baines, Reuben Hillel Baines, Levi Simeon Baines, Salome Rose Baines, Rivkah Joan Baines, Alycia Beth Lenzen, Zachary William Andrew and Derek Christian Andrew, step grand-children Samantha Spence, Brandon Spence, Anthony Paul Vecchi, Joseph Thomas Vecchi, and Luka Bubacz.

A special thanks to Dr. Jonathan R. Sande, hospice nurse Larry Renschler, grief counselor Mike Hogan, the staff of the Cancer Center of Essentia Health and the Duluth St. Mary's Hospice and Palliative Care and Solvay Hospice House teams for their great kindness.

In lieu of flowers Tom's family suggest memorials be made to the Legal Aid Service of Northeastern Minnesota or the Essentia Health-St. Mary's Medical Center Hospice. A Memorial Service will be held on Monday December 29, 2014 in Our Saviors Lutheran Church, 1924 Wyoming, Superior, WI, at 11AM. Inurnment will be in Calvary Cemetery, Duluth. Arrangements by Dougherty Funeral Home, 600 East 2nd Street, Duluth, MN 55805. 218-727-3555.