Thomas Carroll Graham

Thomas Carroll Graham was born in Rock Hill, South Carolina on June 7, 1941, to Florence Pope “Nina” Kitchens Graham of Chambers County, Alabama and Plesant Gradford Graham of Larkinsville, Alabama. Tom attended Winthrop Training School in Rock Hill and was an Eagle Scout and National Merit Scholar. While in high school, Tom wrote and directed a prize winning play and briefly considered becoming a playwright. Ultimately, he accepted a full scholarship to Clemson with the intention of studying Physics. After his freshman year, Tom transferred to Emory University in Atlanta, switched his major to Economics, sang in the Men’s Glee Club, and met fellow student Annie Faye Dyer, who would become his devoted wife of fifty-five years and mother of their four children.

Tom completed his academic work at Emory in 1964 with an undergraduate degree in Economics and a Master of Business Administration. His multi-faceted career began with Humble Oil in Baton Rouge and Management Science America in Atlanta. In the early 1970's, Tom found his way to real estate, and developed communities in Atlanta for the next two decades. Tom recently recalled that it was during his early professional years that he “recovered from Keynesian economic dogma with the help of reality and the work of free market scholars such as Frederich Hayek and Ludwig von Mises”.

Tom took immense delight in his family, and was an endlessly supportive husband, father, and grandfather. As a young man in the 1970's ardently building his career and raising his growing family with Faye, Tom carved out time on occasion for expeditions to canoe the whitewater rivers of southern Appalachia before outfitters had dreamed of organizing trips. 

In the mid-1990's, Tom partnered with two of his sons in founding Mt. Pleasant’s celebrated I’On neighborhood. In 1998, Tom, Vince and Geoff established the I’On Trust to advance arts and culture in the East Cooper area and the I’On Club in 2000 to promote fitness with a convivial spirit. Without Tom’s patient involvement, especially during the lengthy and challenging approval process and the tumultuous economic conditions that followed, I’On would not exist.

As their younger children left the nest, Tom and Faye embarked on a new chapter of life in the Lowcountry; first in Beaufort, then briefly on the Charleston Peninsula, and eventually in the home they built on Krier Lane in I’On, where they welcomed visits from family and friends as the neighborhood grew around them. Tom was at his happiest and most joyous when surrounded by his grandchildren; he especially loved sighting turtles off the canal bridges with them, and herons and egrets from the paths along the Rookery and Hobcaw Creek.

With boundless enthusiasm and insatiable curiosity, Tom was an avid reader and lifelong learner, eagerly sharing his latest discoveries and insights with others, even before their morning coffee! He constantly sought to better understand and share his wonder and awe at the magnificence of the world, from mitochondria to solar flares. In the latter part of his career, Tom partnered with and supported many aspiring entrepreneurs. Few things excited him more than seeing those he had a hand in supporting make a positive impact on their corners of the world.

Coping with Faye’s death in 2018, Tom doubled down on his philanthropic pursuits to, in his own words, “do what he could to enable human flourishing by removing limits imposed by misbegotten governmental policies.” Having lost his father who died at the age of forty-eight, Tom considered each day a gift to be savored with gusto. He continued his quest to “grow younger each year.” An avid tennis player for most of his life, in these years he expanded his fitness practices to yoga, pickleball, and paddle-boarding. Straps alight from his duster hat, neighbors frequently spotted Tom biking I’On’s tree-lined streets or venturing down Mathis Ferry Road toward Mt. Pleasant’s Memorial Waterfront Park.

Tom spent the final years of his life with his beloved fellow enthusiastic and intrepid adventurer, Evelyn Avery. Together they shared joyful companionship, fiercely competitive games of chess, and travels throughout Europe and North and South America. He was active and in vibrant health up until his sudden death on the late afternoon of November 26, 2024.

Thomas Carroll Graham was predeceased by his wife, Faye Dyer Graham, née Annie Faye Dyer; his mother Florence Pope "Nina" Graham, née Florence Pope Kitchens; and his father Plesant Gradford Graham. He is survived by his children: Vincent Gradford Graham of Charleston; Tamara Anne Graham, and her children, Eliza Faye Calabria and Ian Thomas Calabria of Atlanta; and Graham Nicholas Calabria of Charleston; Eric Thomas Graham, and his wife Julia Scheinler Graham of Cumming, GA; and Geoffrey Dyer Graham, his wife Wendy Minor Graham, and their children, Alexander Dyer Graham and Rhea Katharine Graham of Atlanta. He is also survived by his younger brother, James Gradford Graham of Rock Hill and his younger sister, Rosalyn Graham Snyder of Cary, NC.

A memorial service will be held on Saturday, December 14, at 2:00 PM, at the I’On Chapel, 352 North Shelmore Boulevard, Mt. Pleasant, SC 29464. Arrangements by J. Henry Stuhr Inc., Downtown Chapel. 

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the Foundation for Economic Education (FEE), 1776 Peachtree St. NW, Suite 710S Atlanta, GA 30309, in memory of Tom Graham.