Dr. Thomas Alois Kriz of Cedar Park, Texas, passed away on Friday, January 18, 2019. He was 83 years old. Thomas was born on February 10, 1935 in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the son of Francis and Marie (Thiex) Kriz. He was the second of four children and grew up in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He was valedictorian of his high school class at Oshkosh High School and was awarded the honor of the top physics student from his physics teacher, Mac Hymer, who would later become his father-in-law. On June 8, 1957, he was united in marriage to Jane A. Hymer at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. He received his bachelor of science degree in electrical engineering from Marquette University School of Engineering and was commissioned into the U.S. Navy upon graduation. He served on the destroyer ship U.S.S. Hailey in the Mediterranean from 1958 to 1960. Thomas received his master’s degree and later Ph.D. in electrical and computer engineering from Marquette University in 1968.He worked for IBM for 33 years, starting out as a System Architect in IBM’s military and space systems division, which included work on the Apollo space missions. He retired from IBM in 2001 as Chief Engineer for IBM’s server group and power personal systems. Over the course of his career, he worked at IBM’s locations in Owego, New York; Danbury, Connecticut; Boca Raton, Florida; and Austin, Texas.He obtained 7 patents and published more than 50 scientific technical papers on electrical engineering, computer science, physics, cosmology, and astrophysics topics. He most recently published his paper, “An Action-Reaction Interpretation of the Interaction between Cosmic Expansion and Gravitation” in the International Journal of Astronomy.

Thomas is survived by his loving wife, Jane (Hymer) Kriz, and by ten children:Marie (Terry) Ketchersid; Mark (Susan) Kriz; David (Vickie) Kriz; John (Phyllis) Kriz; Paul (Leslie) Kriz; Carl (Brenda) Kriz; Anne (Eddie) Pavkovic; Edward Cricket; Jeff (Melisa) Kriz; and Karen Kriz. He is also survived by 26 grandchildren; 5 great-grandchildren; his sister, Barbara McGuire; his brother, Michael Kriz; and brother-in-law, Wes (Marge) Hymer. Thomas is preceded in death by two sons, Joseph and Stephen Kriz; a grandson, Thomas Kriz; his parents; and a brother, Harold Kriz.

Funeral mass services will be held at 10:30 a.m., Monday, January 28, 2019 at Saint Margaret Mary Roman Catholic Church in Cedar Park, Texas with burial following at 2:00 p.m. at Our Lady of the Rosary Cemetery in Georgetown, Texas.