Thomas L Glass
February 20, 1947 ~ July 8, 2025
Born in:
Dayton, Ohio
Resided in:
Fargo, North Dakota
Remembering the life of Thomas Leroy Glass
Thomas Glass was born on February 20, 1947, to Maxwell and Jane (Crusey) Glass in Dayton, Ohio. He graduated from Fairmont West High School, Kettering, Ohio. He attended Wright State University in Fairborn, Ohio, and received a Bachelor of Science in Biology in 1969. Thomas continued his studies at West Virginia University, in Morgantown, West Virginia, obtaining a master’s in microbiology in 1971. He received his Ph.D. at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, in Microbiology in 1975. He moved to California to do post-doctoral work at the Department of Medicine at the UCLA Veterans Hospital, Los Angeles, and on campus at UCLA from 1975 to 1977. He accepted a post-doctoral appointment in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the Medical College of Virginia/Virginia Commonwealth University from 1977 to 1982. He then became an Assistant Professor at North Dakota State University in Veterinary and Microbiology Sciences. He taught until 2003 and, in retirement, started working at Aldevron, LLC in Fargo, North Dakota, as a Production Scientist.
Thomas has been a member of the American Society of Microbiology since 1969.
Thomas is preceded in death by his parents and sisters.
Thomas will be missed greatly by everyone who knew him; he will be remembered throughout the community and by his friends.
Best friends since 1962. I will make our Christmas trip to Dayton one last time this year, ending at Hickory House for ribs.
Tom was a great neighbor. We enjoyed talking in the driveways, and enjoyed his cat buddies, especially Gus. Tom always shared a box of chocolates from back home when he returned from trips back home.
We will miss his presence in the neighborhood.
Tom and I spent many hours in the lab talking about two loves we had in common, baseball and aircraft (particularly of WWII vintage). Mike and I received a lot of help from Tom in the very earliest days of Aldevron when we were in Van Es and Hultz. Neither of us will ever forget that.
I will miss you mate.
Tom was one of the kindest and most considerate people I’ve known. I met him as a student many years ago. His rigorous bacterial physiology class was the most interesting course I ever took, and it formed the basis for what I do to this day. Tom encouraged students in many ways, such as letting them invite guest speakers to NDSU, helping install fermenters and centrifuges, and supporting bold new ideas. I’m grateful for his friendship of nearly 30 years and miss him terribly.
I have so many memories of Dr. Glass that span from my time as a biotech student at NDSU to my time as an Aldevron employee. His dedication to science and those who would hopefully benefit is beyond incredible. I can’t express just how grateful I am for the time I was able to spend with Tom and see a window into just how much he knew, or at least believed to be true. Thank you, Dr. Glass!