Necrology

Thomas Patrick McLoone '76

Dec. 25, 1954-Sep. 12, 2021

Thomas Patrick McLoone ’76 died on Sept. 12, 2021, in Irvington, N.Y. He was born on Christmas Day in 1954 — he was due on Thanksgiving Day and his friends joked he was late to his own birth — in Brooklyn, N.Y. He grew up in Merrick, N.Y., and came to Hamilton from Chaminade High School in Mineola, N.Y. On the Hill, Tom was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity, majored in philosophy, and played soccer all four years. 

He loved to cook and prized human connections, so it seems logical he became a restaurateur and sommelier. He started on the bottom rung, as a busboy at the Westbury Country Club, before coming to Hamilton. After graduating, he returned to the business and, starting in 1981, was general manager of Cantina, a Mexican restaurant in Westchester County, N.Y. He was by 1989 managing all three restaurants in the Cantina chain, including one in New York City, employing at various times many former Hamilton Delta Kappa Epsilon brothers. 

In 1993, he married Sylvia Catbagen, whom he first met in the restaurant he was managing. They had a son, Liam, and a daughter, Dylan.

In 2001, Tom left Cantina and opened another restaurant, Laredo, in Ardsley, N.Y. After he closed it, he became manager of Della Femina in Manhattan. Before retiring in 2019, he managed the dining room of the private Metropolitan Club New York. 

Not surprisingly for a restaurateur, Tom was a bit of a raconteur, never short of stories to tell. Although a member of Alpha Delt at Hamilton, he was close to a number of Hamilton DKE brothers and would frequently host their dinners at the Metropolitan Club. When a group of DKEs assembled for an informal reunion in the summer of 2021 (note: all were fully vaccinated), they recalled Tom appearing in rare form, eventually leading someone to ask, “McLoone, will you just shut up for a minute?” In the course of his funeral, two DKE pins were placed in his casket, conferring him an honorary membership.

As a friend recalled at the time of his death, Tom “always showed up with a cooler filled with culinary delights, wine samples, and his own cooking utensils. He was the last to finish a meal because he was making sure that everyone’s plate was full, and palates were satisfied.”

Tom’s interest in sports carried over from Hamilton. At one time he was coach of the soccer team at Chaminade, on whose team he played before coming to the Hill. Along with Sylvia, he was a fan of the New York Yankees, Giants, and Islanders. As noted in his obituary, Tom “was drawn to the human elements of sports — the motivating factors, the spirit of competition, the sense of purpose, and the emotional charge they gave, whether as a player or enthusiastic fan.”

According to a classmate, Tom “loved his time at Hamilton — the camaraderie of Dunham, with his classmates, as well as his time with his soccer teammates. In terms of Hamilton’s influence on his life, Tom was always a great communicator and competitive, both honed in the classroom and on the athletic fields.”

Thomas P. McLoone is survived by his wife, son, and daughter.

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