From Tony Engleman (ex-colleague)
We (Lionel Kaye and myself, we are cousins) often spoke about Tom over the years, and despite the years, working together with Tom is as clear as yesterday for me. My parents were very good, loving and supportive to me, and in fact were responsible for pointing me in the direction of the computer business. My mother had a small shop on the Kennington Road and my father was a clothing machiner in a factory, just to give you the background. Once I entered "the world of the office" they could not offer me the support that they would have wanted to, and often a work environment is not over friendly. What Tom did, and not just for me, was to bridge that gap and in a way act as a parent in the work place by encouraging us in the right way and never getting angry despite the fact that we were a bunch of 19 year olds typically, who did sometimes cross the line (there was a pub just 50 yards from the office!). Tom had his own excellent methods of teaching us and handling situations that went wrong from time to time in a positive way, where we were never made to feel bad about ourselves. The results were great for the company and great for us as individuals who constantly learnt from him ion matters of work and also of principles of life too. There was only good intentions from Tom and they benefited all. There is even a song that came out in the late 60's that we always joked was Tom's song which was the Dave Bowie classic "ground control to major Tom", and I always think of him when it occasionally comes on the radio.