Thomas Smith Harvey III, a longtime Rye resident, died April 4, 2019 of emphysema. He was 91.
Born in Darien, Conn. On August 10, 1927, he was the son of Florence (Frost) and Thomas Harvey Jr. In 1945, Tim, as he was called, graduated from Rye High School, where he was active in sports, served as a class officer, and was a member of the National Honor Society. He served in the U.S. Navy in World War II and after being honorably discharged, he went to Yale University and graduated from the School of Engineering in 1950.
He worked in sales for National Standard Company of Niles, Mich.; as a marketing executive for Nastan Proprietary Ltd., an Australian joint venture with the Wire Division of Broken Hill Properties; and as general manager of National Standard Co. of Canada until his retirement in 1982.
Mr. Harvey had a keen interest in history and family genealogy. On his mother’s side, he was a descendent of the Frost family of Connecticut and Maryland, the Coggeshall’s of Rhode Island, the Rogers family of New London, and the Fauntleroy’s of Virginia. His paternal great-grandfather, George Harvey, and great-great uncle, James Harvey, moved from Scotland to Rye in 1843, ahead of the railroad, to work as farmers for Benjamin and Hannah Mead. His grandfather, Thomas Harvey, was a successful contractor in Rye through the 1930s.
An ardent golfer, he was a member of Wethersfield Golf Club in Connecticut, Cutten Fields Club in Guelph, Ontario, and “the Griff” in Greenwich.
He was predeceased by his wife, Jean McMath Harvey, whom he first met when they were both in seventh grade.
Mr. Harvey is survived by three daughters: Elizabeth Harvey of Coventry, R.I., Kim Ellen and her husband Joseph Medeiros of Colorado Springs, and Lisa D’Abrosca of Hanahan, South Carolina; five grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren. His sisters, Joan Marie Toon of Lake Oswego, Oregon, and Ellen Fauntleroy Wolfe of Rye, N.Y., also survive him. His brother, James Harvey, died last year.
A service was held April 15 at Rye Presbyterian Church, and the bagpipers were playing.
