Thom loved traveling in Israel and abroad, loved hiking in nature, and especially loved skiing and visiting his childhood home in Canada. He loved good food, fine whiskey, and hanging out until dawn with his friends around Tel Aviv. He loved his apartment on Arlozorov Street in Tel Aviv; he especially liked being neighbors with (the now late) Haim Hefer), who used to live next door
*Haim Hefer a leading Israeli song writer from the Palmach Generation (first Israeli Army) https://palmach.org.il/amuta/descendants/
Hefer and Thom enjoyed a special friendship that grew between the 23-year-old fighter helicopter pilot and the 80-year-old Palmachnik.
At his memorial service, Haim Heffer wrote about Thom:
Suddenly – we didn’t have Thom.
Suddenly – just like that in the middle of the day
Suddenly – the skies are empty, all but a white cloud wandering.
Suddenly – Thom is gone. Thom is dead.
Suddenly – The family is left with nothing but a fading guitar tune. And a tear. Ans a scream
Suddenly – Reut’s shoulder will miss his caring and soft hand.
And Thom – my neighbor, my friend, Thom, the rotor that hovered above us like an angel overhead, still hovering over us, over my friends. Hovering to eternity.
And We have a drink in your memory, a cup for your youth, a cup for peace and farewell
Thom enjoyed growing up in Caesarea, by the sea. At school and in high school in Kerem Maharal, he was playful but “tasteful and classy.”
his High School at Ma’agan Michael, he was loved by his many friends and admired by his teachers. by his humble and special ways, Thom excelled in everything he chose to do, but most of all, he was an outstanding human being.
On July 24, 2006, on a Monday afternoon, on his way back from a mission in Lebanon, in the Galil’s Skys,” his combat helicopter broke up in mid-air, and Thom was killed. Just two weeks after his twenty third birthday. At his funeral, his sister Amit sang him a farewell song “A Million Stars“.