Monday, September 26, 2022
My name is Dr. Denny De Petrillo and I was a dear friend of Tom and Jo-Ann when I first him in medical school at the University of Ottawa in 1963. Both of us spend part of our time away from family but on weekends we would meet back in Toronto on Sunday night at the home of his father and mother-in-law and drive late at night to Ottawa in his Austin Healey, arriving early in the morning for school.
Tom was very open and friendly and soon became one of the favorites in the class by his ability to listen, communicate and give sage advice. His laugh was very characteristic and we knew when he was around. He was a natural choice to do medicine because of his communication skills, empathy for patients and clinical decision-making. He chose a surgical subspecialty because he was also gifted technically.
We spent part of our post graduate training at St Josephs Hospital in Toronto and travelled to Hungary during that time to visit his relatives and I found out then what a difficult past he had which made him come to Canada to finish medicine.
When he and his family moved to Connecticut we lost track of one another but kept in touch through medical reunions.
Rest in peace, Tom.
