Thomas Wood Zinsser died at Southwest Harbor, Maine, on July 21, 1995. Born on October 13, 1927, in New York, New York, he was the son of John Sharman ’15 and Isabella (Wadsworth) Zinsser. He prepared at the Haverford School in Haverford, Pennsylvania, and served in the U.S. armed forces before coming to Harvard, where he was a member of Hasty Pudding, and played on the tennis team. He also was a founding member of the Krokodiloes. Mr. Zinsser received his A.B., with our Class, and then spent a year at the Business School before starting a career in private industry. His first position was at the Lynchburg Foundry Company in Lynchburg, Virginia. He was subse­quently appointed executive assistant to the manager of the Titanium Alloy Division at National Lead Industries in Niagara Falls and New York, New York. He eventually served as manager of the division, as well as vice president of several of National Lead Industries subsidiary companies. At the time of our Twenty-fifth Anniversary Report, Mr. Zinsser was the company’s business director and the industrial chemicals division manager. He left National Lead Industries in 1981, and established his own industrial consulting business. In his  retirement he also worked as a consultant to the Amherst County (VA) Humane Society and Habitat for Humanity, and he chaired the Amherst County Public Library’s capital campaign. Among his survivors were his wife, the former Cornelia Perkins, to whom he was married on June 24, 1950; their four children, Charlotte Perkins, Nathaniel Wadsworth , Sarah Wood, and John Wellington; six grand­children; and two siblings, including John S. ’45, M.B.A. ’48.

-from Harvard Class of 1950 – 50th Reunion Report

Tommy Zinsser was a first tenor, a great enthusiast, a short fellow, and cared terribly about the Kroks. His one weakness was that there were moments when the notes weren’t quite exactly right at the upper echelon, so the whole group would kind of have to shift down a half tone.

-From Frank Cabot at the 60th Anniversary Memorial Service

I wanted to say something about Tony Zinsser. So I was in the 1981-82 Kroks. At the time we wanted to do an international tour, and we decided not to go on our usual spring jaunt to sandy beaches. Instead we decided to go to New York and to Washington, DC – our two main stops — and to visit with some of the Kroks, and to go visit with Bernstein in New York and to sing.  So Tommy Zinsser, I remember was one of the wonderful alums who took us in and made us feel like there was something special about the tradition of the Krokodiloes. That was a wonderful experience for us to have. So many Kroks invited us into their homes. Greg Craig in Washington had a beautiful event for the group, and Tommy had us in his home near Sweet Briar, and we went down to Virginia. He welcomed us all and he made a beautiful concert at Sweet Briar, and he had us all outside his home. He told us stories about what it was like for him as a Krok, and I remember that. I’m very glad that we decided instead of going to Bermuda that year to instead visit with the Krok alums as we went along.

-From Gordon Bloom at the 60th Anniversary Memorial Service

Thomas Wood Zinsser ’50 of Sweet Briar, Virginia, died on July 21, 1995.  Tommy attended many reunions prior to that time and was always a fun and kind man to Kroks new and old.  George Lodge remembers his as “a glorious first tenor and a great guy.”  I remember meeting him for the first time at the 40th reunion in 1986 where he would still sing gleefully.  Because of his love for the arts, Tommy set up the Thomas W. Zinsser Memorial Fine Arts Fund, supporting music, art, drama, and movement classes for every North Branch student in Afton, Virginia.

-submitted by Steve Dostart