What I think Tom did best was teach. His course lectures were clear and well-organized. His seminars were great. I felt like we were all together exploring a new topic, we were all teachers and students. I still have the materials in bound notebooks from some of Tom's seminars. But what Tom really excelled at was teaching on a one-to-one basis. Maybe it was a gift of the Irish gab, but I learned so much just talking to Tom. He would share everything he knew about a topic (with me he often had to cover the same topic more than once) and if he didn't know he would point you in the right direction. He was a great teacher because he never stopped learning and passing on his knowledge and wisdom.