FreeLists / bristol-birds / [bristol-birds] Thomas W. Finucane Obit

[Wallace Coffey <jwcoffey@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Thomas W. Finucane, a long-time bird researcher in
Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, died
this morning (5/26) at Kingsport, Tennessee.

In 1955 he volunteered to assemble hawk migration
reports to be published in THE MIGRANT and 
continued to do that for more than 20 years.  

He was a long-time hawk migration observer at
the famous Mendota Fire Tower along the Clinch
Mountain range west of Bristol.  There he made
more than 100 climbs to the tower to count hawks,
keep detailed records and publish his data.

He was a former state officer of the Tennessee
Ornithological Society, a long-time member and
leader of the Kingsport Chapter of TOS and, for
many years, a member of the Hawk Migration
Association of North America. 

He was a frenquent participant at many state
TOS meetings and, for decades, was one of the
society's prominent leaders.

He conducted many Breeding Bird Surveys in
Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia as well
as other nearby states.  His contributions date
to the beginning of the surveys in the 1960s.

Tom was frequently involved in Christmas Bird
Counts and was a compiler and leader of numerous
Kingsport counts.

He had been one of the oldest participants in 
distance running road races in the region and
constantly won in the oldest age classes.
He was a champion chess player and a long-time
soccer player and Kingsport soccer team coach.

Tom was a retired research chemist of the
Tennessee Eastman Company at Kingsport.
He moved to Northeast Tennessee from New York
to work at the chemical company and first lived
at Blountville befor moving to Kingsport.

He joined the Tennessee Ornithological Society
in 1945. 

He is survived by his wife, Charlotte, and several
children  One of his daughter's is Marion Finucane who
is a member of the Bristol Bird Club.

Tom had been in failing health for several years and
was living at a Kingsport nursing home at the time
of his death.

Wallace Coffey
Bristol, TN




 

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