January 13, 2021
Thomas Wallace Button, 82, of Chittenango, passed away peacefully at home. He was born in Middletown, New York and was raised in Roscoe, New York, by the late Charles E. and Aileen W. Button.
He leaves behind his loving wife of 21 years, Naomi Susan Caldwell Button, who cared for him heroically at home while he suffered a several year battle with Alzheimer’s. Surviving in addition to his wife, Susan, are his daughter, Carolyn Button (Robert) Rau of Upper Arlington, Ohio; sons, Thomas W. (Beth) Button Jr. of South Hero, Vermont, Stephen Button (Leslie) of Coeur d’Alene, Idaho, and Timothy (Paige) Button of Indianapolis, Indiana; step-children, Laura Reynolds of El Cerrito, California and Thomas (Melissa) Reynolds of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; grandchildren, Aileen, Sam, Colby, Charlie, Ty, Emily, Connor, Jack, Ava, Carson, Graham, Hannah, and Richie; sister, Louise Button (Donald) Eggleton; and several nieces and nephews. He is predeceased by his first wife, Evelyn Tice Button; brother, Charles E. “Pete” Button and sister-in-law, Dolores “Dody” Phoenix Button.
Tom attended the Roscoe Central School, graduating in 1956. His mother was his high school English teacher and his father was the Sullivan County Superintendent of Schools. Tom attended Hamilton College in Clinton, New York, where he was a member of Psi Upsilon fraternity, ran track and cross country for the legendary Gene Long, and received his degree in Mathematics in 1960. While at Hamilton, he married his high school sweetheart, Evelyn, and began his family. Upon graduation, he started his career with Prudential, working at their corporate headquarters in Newark, New Jersey, where he began his lifelong commitment of civic engagement and leadership. He served as a Trustee of the Newark Boys Club, and become active in the Jaycees, serving as its President for the State of New Jersey in 1967 and 1968, and was named the Newark Jaycees Young Man of the Year in 1969. Later moving to Summit, New Jersey, Tom again embraced his community by first serving as a member of the local zoning board, and later as a City Councilman from 1976 until 1989, including serving as the City Council President from 1986-1988. While in Summit, Tom became a founder of the New Community Foundation, focused on creating low-income housing opportunities in the affluent suburb of New York City and to help ensure its diversity; his efforts led to the creation of over 200 such housing units in the town.
Tom spent the majority of his business career as a compensation and employee benefits specialist, working for most of his career in New York City for such companies as ACF Industries, United Brands, Viacom, International Paper and Borden, the latter of which brought a move to Columbus, Ohio in 1989, where he lived in one of the historic brew master’s houses in Columbus’s German Village for several years. Tom later returned toward the end of his career to Central New York, to run a retirement fund for Agway in Dewitt. It was this career opportunity that led Tom to join the Onondaga Ski Club, where he met his wife and best friend, Susan, a world-renowned astronomy educator and planetarium consultant, whom he married in 1999.
In retirement, Tom continued his love of numbers by working each year as a tax preparer for H&R Block, where he got to meet many wonderful people around Syracuse, and enjoyed tilling his and Susan’s prolific annual vegetable garden, which they maintained even when traveling the world to one of Susan’s many planetarium conferences. Tom was a significant presence in the world with an insatiable spirit of adventure, curiosity, and friendly competition. His wit, sense of humor, and playful nature will be deeply missed by his family and many friends around the world. He was a loving and supportive companion to his wife, and was extremely proud of and cherished all of his children and grandchildren; he took great joy in cheering their amazing accomplishments large and small. He was a person who thoroughly enjoyed helping others. His many “playmates” in the Onondaga Ski Club will tell you that he contributed many hours of service to that organization as well as hours of fun skiing, hiking, biking and golfing. His sense of adventure led to many world travels and learning about different cultures and the history of astronomy in those many lands. In short, always wanting to discover what was around the next corner, he enjoyed life to the fullest!
The family would like to thank his many excellent caregivers and neighbors for their much needed assistance over the last several years. In honor of Tom, get out there and enjoy some new adventures that will enrich your life! Memorial Contributions are welcome to the Alzheimer’s Association of Central New York (https://www.alz.org/centralnewyork), Hospice of Central New York (https://www.hospicecny.org/memorial-donation/), or to Symphoria (experiencesymphoria.org). For guest book, please visit: www.SCHEPPFAMILY.com