Thomas Knowlton Sawyer

Long-time Easton, MD, and Seaford, DE, resident Thomas Knowlton Sawyer died on Saturday, the 27th of July 2013. Tom, son of Francis Lucas Sawyer and Grace Shaffer, was born on May 11, 1929, in Phoenix, AZ. A Depression era economy forced the family to resettle in Washington DC, where, at age 17, Tom answered the call of both duty and adventure, enlisting in the army. He served his country in the 6th Infantry during the Korean War. After active duty, Tom completed his BSc. in Biology at American University in 1953. It was there he met the love of his life, Wyoming native Dorothy May Lee, and their marriage, on June 2, 1951, marked the beginning of 62 years as husband and wife, the flame burning brightly throughout. For a scientist who was later to become one of the nation’s most renowned microbiologists, his was an inauspicious beginning with his first job - cleaning monkey cages - at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda. Later assignments included rabies research in Georgia and heartworm disease in Maryland. During this time Tom, while raising a young family, alternated nights between second jobs and night school at George Washington University, where he earned a MSc. in 1960 after eight years of part-time study. In 1964, Tom led his family from Bethesda to the Eastern Shore of Maryland for an assignment at the Bureau of Commercial Fisheries’ Oxford Laboratory. Focusing on shellfish, fisheries, and human health diseases, Tom was instrumental in identifying diseases such as Legionnaires; viruses such as the reemergence of a once-eradicated polio strain; and even chemicals, like his collaborative recognition of the source of toxic kepone concentrations in James River bluefish. Tom’s work led to his discovery of a number of new amoeba species, and he took great pleasure in naming them after the people most important in his life. After finishing his PhD. at University of Maryland in 1973, Tom returned to the Oxford Laboratory, where he continued his research until retiring in 1987. Husband and wife next formed Rescon Associates, Inc., a joint non-profit research company. Tom left the petri dishes and microscope behind in 2002, when he and Dottie moved to Seaford, DE, his passion for science traded for an equally energetic passion for fishing. Tom was particularly proud of his membership in, and contributions to, the American Society of Parasitologists, American Microscopic Society, Helminthological Society (past president), and Sigma Xi. He was proud of putting his research findings to pen, authoring at least a hundred peer-reviewed scientific papers. His children remember how he often read his manuscripts around the dining room table, and how they could spell words like acanthamoeba long before even most two-syllable words. Tom cherished his family, their photos hanging on his study walls beside diplomas, mementos of a scientific career, the Army Reserve certificate recognizing 26 years of service and his rank of Lt. Colonel, and – in his eye worthy of equal merit - a certificate for his first 5-lb bass. Tom was preceded in death by his parents; sister, Patricia O’Shaughnessy, and brother, James X. Sawyer. He leaves behind his wife, Dottie Sawyer; brother, John Lucas Sawyer; three children, Patricia Crowder, Robert Sawyer, and Barbara Starkey; grandchildren, Kelley Allen, Kendall Allen, Christen Sawyer, and Ethan Starkey; and great-granddaughter, Savana Turner. Tom lived a rich and long life. Still, the void he leaves looms large, and the hole in the collective family heart will not likely heal. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. on Monday the 12th of August at Methodist Manor House, 1001 Middleford Rd., Seaford DE. Flowers may be sent, but Tom would want his friends to take a youngster fishing.

Thomas Knowlton Sawyer

May 11, 1929 - July 27, 2013