In Honor of Tom Bryant
Thomas Lee Bryant, 76, of Bainbridge Island, Washington passed away peacefully on March 4, 2020. Born on June 15, 1943, Tom grew up in a Navy family living in many places from Virginia to Hawaii, but he called home Santa Barbara, California where his parents eventually settled.
In honor of our dear friend Tom Bryant, the “Cars and Coffee” group is planning to make a substantial donation to Bainbridge Performing Arts, one of Tom’s other favorite organizations.
BPA is in the middle of a capital campaign to renovate the twenty-eight year old building with some much needed improvements. We’re building a new studio theater space, installing comfortable and more accessible multi-aisle seating, expanding our lobby and restrooms, adding a new roof with solar array, upgrading our box office and administrative offices, improving our dressing rooms and HVAC systems, and even installing an elevator and upstairs landing, plus an extensive list of maintenance improvements - all designed to create the greenest, safest, and best experience for our performers, our audience, and staff. You can read the full list of improvements at buxtoncenter.com.
“Tom Bryant was one of a kind. A gentleman through and through, you could frequently count on him to cheerfully add a dose of impeccable knowledge and a quip of humor to any conversation. Always willing to offer a clever anecdote about a vintage car, a daring design, or racing legend he might have interviewed during his many years as Editor for Road & Track magazine, Tom also had a keen eye for photography and greatly enjoyed motorsports. A true artisan of the automotive world, his work at Road & Track celebrated the common car as an art form, not just for mechanical performance or sculptural beauty, but how it all uniquely came together much like the way actors and musicians bring together a total performance. Tom deeply loved the arts and worked tirelessly in his community as a board member and philanthropist in support of the arts. Our local car club benefited from his knowledge, friendship, and willingness to share his life and work with like-minded enthusiasts as he elevated our community, our love of cars, and our mutual appreciation for beautiful events that move us.”
They believe that their group can raise $100,000, which is a large enough gift to name the brand new lobby elevator in Tom’s honor. Whether it’s manual or automatic transmission, we’ll leave up to the architects.
Those involved can connect with Dan Rosenberg, who’ll be working closely with the capital campaign team, to discuss your portion of this group gift, and if you have any questions about any element of this project, please don’t hesitate to contact Matt Longmire, the campaign’s Communication and Development Coordinator.
When you’re ready to give your gift or make a pledge, visit our pledge form page to start the process, and be sure to include a note that your donation is included in the Cars and Coffee group gift for Tom.