Thomas Nathan Williams

October 2, 1934 - June 1, 2019

Thomas N. Williams, 84, of Redwood City, died suddenly at home of natural causes on Saturday, June 1, 2019. Born in Chicago, IL, to Nora Bowen and Percy Hugh Williams, Tom was the 5th of 5 sons in a family of 8, which included 3 younger sisters. He attended St. Thomas the Apostle Grammar School in Chicago’s Hyde Park and graduated from St. Ignatius High School in 1953. A following year at Cheshire Academy in Connecticut allowed him to continue his high school prowess on the football field before he matriculated at Stanford University in 1954.

He walked on to the Stanford football team, becoming the first African American to play football at Stanford. He majored in speech and drama and began his career path in 1959 in the advertising business in San Francisco, which he found unsatisfying. A trip to South America awakened in him a desire to do more meaningful work, which led him to the Ravenswood City School District in East Palo Alto and then to work as a compliance officer with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. A few years with United Air Lines in personnel shifted him into the executive search business, first with a local search firm and then in his own executive recruiting firm in 1972.

In the late 90s, he established The Level Playing Field, a program to assist minority football coaches, ultimately formatting it as a non-profit organization, Win On Our Level Playing Field, in order to assist underserved coaches and athletic administrators in all sports gain greater visibility in the hiring process. He served on two boards at Stanford—the Athletic Board and the Alumni Association Board, and counted his Stanford ‘58 BA degree and experience as a key part of his personal and professional formation. He stayed close to Stanford University and the football program, mentoring many of the black football players during the 70s and 80s.

At the core of Tom’s life was his relationship with God, nurtured through daily Mass, constant prayer, contemplation and the study of Scripture. He probed deeply into the insights of Jungian psychology, particularly as illuminated in Christian myths and the Christian psyche. Tom enjoyed a long and enriching relationship with the Trappist monks at the Abbey of New Clairvaux in Vina, CA.

The challenges in Tom’s life, especially the poverty in which he grew up and the ever-present racism, both in Chicago and California, were a constant call to transform both himself and the larger culture. His marriage in 1965 to Kathleen (Kay) Carmody, of Palo Alto, put them in the forefront of interracial relations as the civil rights movement was engulfing the country. His family was a huge source of Tom’s pride. He cherished his kids, Nora (Shawn Quaid) in Chicago, Gerard “Gerry” (Cathy Flaker) in Tacoma, WA, Margaret “Meg” (Chris Cortez) in Redwood City, and Thomas Carmody “T.C.” (ex-spouse Catharine Williams) in San Carlos, and delighted in his grandkids: Ella and Tyler Williams and Serafina and Nicolas “Nico” Cortez.

In addition to his immediate family, Tom is survived by his sisters Carol Julien and Barbara Moomau in Southern California, many nieces and nephews around the U.S., plus sister-inlaw Mary Ann Carlson in Vermont and brother-in-law Tom Carmody III in Florida and their families. A memorial Mass and celebration of Tom’s life will be held on Saturday, July 6, at 10:00 a.m. at St. Thomas Aquinas Church, 751 Waverley Street, Palo Alto, California.

Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to: 1.The Thomas Merton Center of Palo Alto, P. O. Box 60061, Palo Alto, CA 94306

2.KCSM Jazz 91, KCSM TV & FM, 1700 West Hillsdale Blvd, San Mateo, California 94402