K. Thomas “Tom” Reed Davies

K. Thomas “Tom” Reed Davies ’53, 89, passed away on Sunday, June 2, 2024 at his home. He was the husband of Carol Davies.

Kenneth Thomas Reed Davies, age 89, died at his home in Pittsburgh, PA on June 2, 2024.

Tom was born on November 26, 1934 in Pittsburgh. He graduated in high school first in his class at the Milton Hershey School, which he attended along with his brother Richard (Dick), and gave the valedictorian address at Hershey Stadium. The school would remain important to him throughout his life, and in 1978 he and his brother won the school’s Alumnus of the Year award.

He attended Carnegie Institute of Technology where he obtained his B.S. (graduating second in his class for the entire university), M.S., and PhD. Upon graduating from Carnegie Mellon University, he began work in 1962 as a Theoretical Nuclear Physicist at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL). At ORNL he performed calculations on the structure and stability of various nuclei. In 1993 he left ORNL and headed the Department of Physics at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh until he retired in 2012. Tom remained passionate about cosmology, black holes, and relativity but ultimately it was teaching he loved best. After retirement his interest in physics continued, and he co-authored a book on it called From the Lorentz Transformation to the Dirac Equation.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Kenneth and Marjorie (Naudain) Davies; and his ex-wife, Beverly Anne Davies nee Cunningham (mother of his children). He is survived by his wife, Carol Griffith Davies; his brother, his children, Douglas, Sean, and Beverly Leamon; many grandchildren and great- grandchildren, and his beloved cats Rosie and Scarlett.

There will be a memorial for Tom on June 26 at 10:00 a.m. at the Chapel at Duquesne University. His final resting place will be at a private cemetery in Hershey, PA.