and by the example of his two older brothers, Ed, a priest for the Archdiocese of Baltimore and James, a Holy Cross Brother. He left Towson, entered the Christian Brothers’ Novitiate in Ammendale on June 15, 1966 and received his religious habit on August 29, 1966 in Washington DC. He pronounced perpetual vows in Pittsburgh, PA in 1973.

Br. Tom, affectionately known as “Chief” studied Economics at La Salle College in Philadelphia. However, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania would not certify him to teach with an Economics degree.  He spent several summers at Villanova University working on a Master’s degree in Math.  Br. Tom taught at Central Catholic High School in Pittsburgh from 1970-1977. Following Central Catholic, Br. Tom went to Bishop Walsh in Cumberland, MD from 1977-1980 before coming to Calvert Hall from 1980-1995. He returned to Central Catholic in 1995 as vice-principal for the year and then went to Hudson Catholic in Jersey City, NJ from 1996-2004. In 2004, Br. Tom returned to the Hall to teach and earned his Master’s in Economics from Johns Hopkins University.  He remained at the Hall until his unexpected death in 2008.

He was the quintessential life-long learner who took every opportunity to build and enrich his life.  His careful preparation of each class he taught demonstrated his high regard of the education of his students. His stimulating and vigorous classroom presentations sparked many students to study Economics in college.  Br. Tom was known for his compassion and zeal for teaching and for his roles as educator, McMullen Scholars director, athletic director, varsity and junior varsity baseball moderator and mentor. Here at Calvert Hall, he taught history and math. Personifying the values of Lasallian education, Br. Tom sought to educate and prepare each student as a whole person for high school, college, and life beyond Calvert Hall. 

When Br. Tom was not teaching, he was in the brothers’ residence reading science-fiction novels, cooking or preparing his famous extra credit questions sometimes from M*A*S*H*episodes.  His mother and the Christian Brothers at the La Salle College Scholasticate taught him how to cook. Br. Tom was known for his cooking as well as baking and giving out delicious Christmas cookies each year.

 Br. Charles Filberg, FSC gave the eulogy at Br. Tom’s funeral mass. Br. Charles said, “He was a teacher, athletic director, varsity and junior varsity moderator, ten pin and duck pin intramural moderator here at Calvert Hall. Tom was at home in the brothers’ kitchen- cooking and baking.  He was a crossword puzzle fan and if he had his way “It’s a Wonderful Life” and “The Wizard of Oz” would have been on the TV every day of the year.

Br. Tom’s command of the English language was most evident at the Hall in the famous baseball poems that he wrote for the Daily Bulletin.  He would describe all of the events in yesterday’s game in some kind of iambic pentameter, that usually left both students and teachers scratching their heads and asking ‘who won’?” 

His brother, Fr. Ed Miller gave the homily at the funeral. He said, “Tom was born to teach, by textbook, and more importantly, by example.”