Longtime paddler Tom McCloud passes away
From Paul Ferguson: I am sad to report the passing of my good friend Tom McCloud in Frederick, MD.
Thanks to many of Tom´s friends at the Coastal Canoeists for providing Tom´s obituary:
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On Saturday October 3, 2020, Thomas G. McCloud passed away suddenly at the age of 76.
Tom will be fondly remembered by family and varied groups of friends,
with whom he shared many of his passions. They include his mountain neighbors, colleagues at NIH/Natural Products Lab, fellow enthusiasts of the wilderness, fishing, canoe exploration, antique wooden canoe restoration, and those of us who listened to his stories.
He was born August 23, 1944 in Akron, Ohio to Doris and George McCloud, grew up in Massillon, Ohio and attended Massillon Washington High School and was awarded Distinguished Citizen Award in 2008. He graduated from Ohio State University, North Carolina State University, and Purdue University. He served his country at Walter Reed Army Medical Center as a bio Science Assistant.
Tom had a long, successful career as scientist and researcher at the U.S. National Cancer Institute at the NIH/Natural Products Lab where he played a key role in an ambitious effort to collect, process and extract samples from naturally occurring materials around the world that have contributed to the discovery of many lifesaving drugs and will be used in the research of therapeutics for years to come. In 2000 he was awarded the Special Science Achievement in recognition of the development of state of the art systems for the plating and rapid dereplication of extraordinary numbers of natural products extract. Tom was preceded in death by his parents, George and Doris McCloud, and brother Richard. Tom is survived by his sister in law, Hanna McCloud and Aunt, Marilyn Thomas of Orrville and several cousins, in Ohio, Maryland, and Arkansas.
Tom´s ashes will be interned in the family plot at Crown Hill Cemeteryin Orrville, Ohio, on Saturday November 21, 2020 at 11am. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial donations be made in Tom´s name to the Wooden Canoe Heritage Association
(https://www.wcha.org/).
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Here are some of my paddling memories of Tom:
I met Tom when he joined the Carolina Canoe Club (CCC) in 1974. He lived near NC State where he was doing graduate work and had access to Grumman canoes at the university´s outing club. Both of us were pretty green at paddling but eager to get more experience.
On weekends, Tom and I paddled many rivers. On a Cape Fear River trip, I spotted an old wood and canvas canoe tangled in trees on an island. It was a complete wreck, but Tom said he wanted to repair it someday. I doubted he would ever do it, but I helped transport the wreckage back to his garage. After Tom retired, I was able to view a beautiful restoration.
Tom was president of CCC in 1977. He asked me to put a Big Laurel Creek/French Broad trip on the cruise schedule for early March. I had run it previously with the Coastal Canoeists. I asked Tom if he would do a trip report for the CCC newsletter. He said sure, and it appeared a couple of months later in the newsletter. What he did not say was he also submitted it to the AWA journal. Tom always set the bar high. Here it is titled “Big Day on Big Laurel Creek” on the 1978 Jan/Feb cover and pages 27-32: https://www.americanwhitewater.org/content/Journal/get-journal-pdf/issue/1/year/1978/.raw
In July/August 1977, Tom led a CCC trip to Canada with 10 paddlers. They paddled from the Abitibi Hydro Dam to Moosonee near James Bay.
Tom moved to Indiana to attend Purdue University in late 1977.
In 1987 Tom moved to Frederick, Maryland to manage a lab for the National Institute of Health (NIH).
Bob Benner and Tom McCloud co-authored “A Paddler´s Guide to Eastern North Carolina” in 1987.
Tom served as Coastal Canoeists president 1991-92.
In 2003, Tom and four other Coastal Canoeists made an epic trip to paddle Labrador´s Petit Mecatina. Read the whole story here: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/read/20257004/petit-mecatina-canadian-canoe-routes
After retiring from the NIH in 2010, Tom had more time to devote to restoring old wooden canoes and paddling. Here is an example of his fine work: https://tinyurl.com/y6bjhdy5
RIP Tom. You are missed by many.
Paul Ferguson