Skip to main content

Memorial Tributes Volume 23 (2021) / Chapter Skim
Currently Skimming:

THOMAS V. FALKIE
Pages 92-97

The Chapter Skim interface presents what we've algorithmically identified as the most significant single chunk of text within every page in the chapter.
Select key terms on the right to highlight them within pages of the chapter.


From page 93...
... Carmel, Pennsylvania, to Victor and Aldona Falkie, coal miner and factory worker, respectively. As Tom tells the story, "my father had an eighthgrade education and he wanted more for me," and his mother told him frequently "you are not going to work in the mines." Tom's ticket out of the fading anthracite mining area was a scholarship from Reading Anthracite Company with which he entered Pennsylvania State University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in 1956 and then, with a fellowship from the International Minerals and Chemicals Corporation, a master's (1958)
From page 94...
... In 1977, at the end of the Ford administration, Tom joined Berwind Natural Resources Corporation, a Philadelphia-based company operating nationwide with interests in coal, natural gas, and mineral lands. He remained with Berwind until 2003, serving as president and chief executive officer (1977–98)
From page 95...
... In addition to his substantial personal and corporate commitments to scholarships, he devoted quality time to providing advice and counsel to mining programs and to fundraising activities for universities and professional mining societies. He was one of the founding members of the SME Coal Division Scholarship Endowment Fund, established in the mid-1970s to support US mining and mineral-related programs.
From page 96...
... Rand Memorial Gold Medal, for "outstanding contributions to the minerals community and profession through distinguished service in industry, academia, government and professional societies"; and in 2018 the Mining and Metallurgical Society of America Gold Medal "in recognition of a lifetime of contributions to the mining industry through education, industry management, and government service." Lest anyone think Tom was all work and no play, the truth was quite the opposite. He enjoyed golf, fishing, poker, and traveling around the United States and the world.
From page 97...
... Golf, poker, and ski trips were a way to spend time with friends, family, and colleagues. And for nearly 30 years he delighted in hosting an annual reunion picnic, with scores of family and friends enjoying a weekend of swimming, touch football, soccer, barbecue, and of course pierogis and kielbasa.


This material may be derived from roughly machine-read images, and so is provided only to facilitate research.
More information on Chapter Skim is available.