Obituary
Thomas Garman of The Villages was born in Coatesville, Pennsylvania on January 6, 1942. He died peacefully at home surrounded by his family on February 17, 2024.
Tom was the son of Harry Edgar Garman, a third-generation jeweler of Coatesville, and Sarah Louise Bradfield, of St. Petersburg, Florida. After graduating high school, only one junior college would accept him; there he was inspired by four professors in his love of learning and teaching. He completed his two-year degree, got his BSBA from the University of Denver, taught business at a high school in the Denver suburbs, completed an MBA from the University of Denver, and earned a doctorate in economics education at Texas Tech University.
He taught at Northern Illinois University for six years and then worked at Virginia Tech University for 25 years, where he taught and directed graduate students. While at Virginia Tech, his university and the U.S. Department of Agriculture sent him to work in West Africa for 2½ years to start and run an economic development project.
Tom served on professional associations, with academic organizations, and on advisory boards for major corporations and federal government agencies. He directed several national award-winning graduate-student research studies, authored over 50 college textbooks, and worked for a U.S. Senator in Washington DC. During retirement he established a non-profit foundation. Tom’s academic publications were the most cited in the field for over 20 years, including a book that became a standard in the field. It remains in print after 45 consecutive years.
He also created questionnaires for researchers to use, including the eight-question “Personal Financial Wellness” scale, which has been used by over 500 researchers in the United States, in 20 languages and 70 foreign countries. Tom was a distinguished fellow and professor emeritus at Virginia Tech. His teaching career lasted 37 years, and he enjoyed retirement for 23 years.
Tom’s personal life included marriage to his college sweetheart, Julie Marshall. They had two children, Dana and Scott. After a decade, however, they divorced. He briefly married and divorced a second time, and then he had a long marriage but divorced yet a third time.
Upon taking early retirement, he moved to Florida in 2000, and after 3½ years he met the absolute love of his life, Geraldine Ann Chambers, who had recently moved to The Villages after losing her husband of 40 years. It wasn’t long before he realized he was smitten. Tom learned, “Sometimes on the way to a dream you get lost and find a better one.” Gerry taught him what true love really was. Every day of the fourth quarter of Tom’s life was happy in ways he had not known before.
Tom and Gerry traveled overseas extensively, and during those years they married 20 times in different countries. Tom loved golf, and was a huge fan of the Denver Broncos and the UConn Huskies women’s basketball team.
Tom wanted to live until age 90, so he and Gerry could continue their happy lives together. He also did not want to depart because his still-working son had bought a house in The Villages, as Scott’s employer generously permitted him to work from Florida during winters. Tom loved getting picked up on Sundays for breakfast with his son at Denny’s. Tom’s extended family enjoyed many memorable times together in Florida.
Tom leaves behind his loving wife Gerry, his sister, Linda Garman Haag, and her husband Dave; his son Scott Marshall Garman and his husband David J. Sgarlata; his son-in-law Tom Stables; his granddaughter Julia Kurpiel; and his “number-two son” Alieu Demba and his wife Isatou, and their children. He was preceded in death by his daughter Dana Lynn Garman Stables, his brother Harry Edgar Scott Garman, sister Betty Page Garman Russell, and parents Harry Edgar Garman and Sarah Louise Bradfield Garman.
There will be no immediate service for Tom, however a celebration of life event for him is being planned for his family and friends in The Villages sometime this fall.
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