Obituary of Thomas E. Golden, Jr.

Thomas E. Golden, Jr, a life-long resident of Darien, CT died October 29, 2011. The cause was pancreatic cancer. He was 82. Mr. Golden, the son of Thomas and Ruth Golden, attended Hindley School and Darien High School and graduated with highest honors from La Salle Military Academy in Oakdale, NY in 1947. He entered Yale University that year with a special interest in civil engineering. As an undergraduate at Yale, Mr. Golden was president of the Yale chapters of the national Tau Beta Pi engineering society and the American Society of Civil Engineers. He was a first-string pitcher for the Silliman College baseball team and a member of Sigma Xi. In 1951, he graduated with highest honors from Yale. At graduation, he was presented with the Yale Engineering High Scholarship Prize and he received a ROTC commission from the Yale Field Artillery program. Mr. Golden received a Master's degree in Civil Engineering from Yale in 1952 before entering military service. He served as Resident Engineer with the Alaska District Office of the Corps of Engineers during construction of the Army Arctic Center at Big Delta, Alaska. In civilian life, Golden worked first as a professional engineer at Parsons Brinckerhoff an engineering and consulting firm. He then worked at The Barney Company, a NYC construction firm, where he later became an officer of the company. He later became Executive Vice President of Standard Dredging, an international marine construction company. He was a retired Reserve Officer of the New York District of the Corps of Engineers. He received several commendations from the Corps of Engineers for hurricane flood restoration duties in the greater New York area during the 1955-1956 hurricanes. He was a member of the Yale Club of New York and a retired panelist of the construction division of the American Arbitration Association. For the past forty-four years Mr. Golden was President of the Thomas E. Golden Reality Company and its affiliates in Darien. Mr. Golden was active in a variety of community affairs. He served on the Darien Flood and Erosion Control Board and the building committee for Darien High School. He was an officer or director of several public and private companies. He helped restore the Darien Theater with fellow Darien resident, Arthur Collins. Mr. Golden was generous in his support of Yale University. He endowed The Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Professorship in Engineering and was a Senior Advisory Member of the Yale Engineering School. In 2005, he received the Yale Science & Engineering Award for Meritorious Service to Yale Engineering. Mr. Golden made an unparalleled impact on Catholic life at Yale through his generous support of St. Thomas More Chapel. He provided the programmatic endowment within the 30, 000 square foot, Cesar Pelli-designed, Catholic student center that was dedicated in 2006 and that bears his name. Mr. Golden was also responsible for the inauguration of The Thomas E. Golden, Jr. Fellowship in Faith and Science, an annual lecture contributing to the dialogue between faith and the natural sciences. Mr. Golden launched Catholic life at Yale into a new phase of growth and raised the standards for Catholic campus ministry nationally. Mr. Golden is survived by his cousins, Jean Burr of Thousand Oaks, CA, Maureen Brady of Barrington, RI and Sheila Schreyer of Knoxville, TN. Also, Christopher Golden of Marietta, GA, Justin Golden of Watertown, CT and Matthew Golden of Natick, MA. The family will receive friends at the Edward Lawrence Funeral Home, 2119 Post Road, Darien on Thursday, November 3rd from 4:00 to 8:00 PM. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at St. John R.C. Church, 1986 Post Road in Darien on Friday, November 4th at 11AM and burial with full military honors will follow at Spring Grove Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in his memory to the Carl & Dorothy Bennett Cancer Center, Stamford Hospital, 30 Shelburne Road, Stamford, CT 06902 or St. Thomas More Chapel, 268 Park Street, New Haven, CT 06511. Funeral Home: Edward Lawrence Funeral Home 2119 Post Road Darien, CT USA 06820