Tom Fort was born on September 14. 1961, the son of James Tomlinson Fort and Judith A.Davis. James was an attorney and senior partner with the Pittsburgh law firm of Reed SmithShaw and McClay for more than fifty years.

Tom attended Penn State University 1980 to 1985 and received a B.A. in European History. Hewent to Scotland and University of St. Andrews during 1985-1987 where he earned a Master'sdegree in Medieval History and Numismatics. Later at St. Andrews he was a tutor in MedievalHistory 1988 to 1990.

Returning to Penn State University at New Kensington, he was an adjunct Associate Professor inancient and medieval history 1990 to 1995. He was also an Adjunct Associate Professor at LaRoche College in Pittsburgh 1993 to 1995. In 1995, Tom married Malgorzata Mozer (Gosia), ofPolish ancestry. She has a Doctor of Humanities degree and manages rare book preservation andspecial collections at the University of Pittsburgh. They have a daughter Annamaria.

Temporarily out of school, Tom worked as assistant editor for The AAA Motorist, a publicationof the American Automobile Association, East Central, 1995 to 2001.

I wish I could date my first contact with Tom Fort. At one time the Pennsylvania Association ofNumismatists offered a travel grant for research related to Pennsylvania numismatics. I wasresearching the Eckfeldt family and submitted an application. A letter of acknowledgement cameback from Tom Fort. I did not receive the grant.

Tom was recruited to be editor of The Asylum, the journal of the Numismatic BibliomaniaSociety, starting in October, 1999. After I became president of NBS, he would send me anadvance copy of the newsletter, I would review it, and we would talk about it on the phone. Ofall my duties as president, managing publication of the newsletter took the most time. Tompromoted and edited the massive twenty-fifth anniversary edition of The Asylum in Summer2004 (Vol. XXII, No. 3). When Tom resigned after two issues in 2006, we found a replacementin David Yoon as of the January 2007 issue.

Tom and Wayne Homren organized The Great Numismatic Libraries of Pittsburgh Tour onFriday, August 20, 2004. Tom's contribution was The E. Tomlinson Fort Librarywith his specialty on ancient and medieval numismatics. Off to one side was the Doc Savageannex. Twenty-Four people who attended were listed in The Asylum. (Vol. XXII, No, 4) page369.

Relieved of the duties as editor, Tom did post graduate studies in European History and RomanCulture at the University of Pittsburgh 2007 to 2009.

Tom's list of memberships includes the British Numismatic Society, the Royal NumismaticSociety, Société Française de Numismatique and he was a fellow of the American NumismaticSociety. His local memberships include the Western Pennsylvania Numismatic Society and thePennsylvania Association of Numismatists. Tom had several scholarly articles published on hisspecialties of ancient and medieval numismatics. Outside of Numismatics, he was a benefactor of the US Chess Federation.

Tom was troubled with health problems in recent years and died on October 5, 2021.

Larry Korchnak writes:

Douglas Saville writes:

David Fanning writes:

LEFT: Rich Jewell supplied this photo of him and Tom (at right in suit and tie) at the October 2015 Pennsylvania Association of Numismatists show.

RIGHT: Gosia published this great photo of her and Tom on Facebook.