Tom Graham Dies After Half a Century of Journalistic Accomplishments

Columbia resident and noted journalist Tom Graham, 71, died early June 22, at his home, attended by his wife, Mary Kay Sigaty, and their children, Eileen and Bridget Graham. It was the couple’s 48th wedding anniversary. After five years fighting cancer, Tom had just returned home after a series of hospitalizations stemming from a COVID infection in February.

Tom was born April 7, 1951, the second of four children to John and Mary Graham. He spent his childhood in New York City, where he grew up to be a devoted Yankees fan and attended the elite Regis High School, often ranked as the best Catholic high school in the country, with well-known graduates such as Dr. Anthony Fauci.

A philosophy major at Boston College, Tom met his wife and many lifelong friends while still a student. Years later, he would recall a campus protest that featured Mary Kay, a pretty activist with a bullhorn. Upon graduation, the couple married. By then, Tom had found his calling as well as his life partner.

A precocious journalist, Tom left Boston for a work-study position at the Howard County Times in 1971, where he distinguished himself as a reporter, attracting the attention of then Columbia Flier editor Jean F. Moon, who persuaded him to join the fledgling paper as its news editor in 1973.

Over the next 24 years, he reigned over an ever expanding editorial operation of 13 community newspapers in Howard and Baltimore Counties. Under his leadership, what became the Patuxent Publishing Co. papers were perennial “Best in Show” awardees in the annual Maryland-Delaware-DC Press Association contests. Tom later served as Vice President of the MDDC Board of Directors.

“In those day, the Flier was truly a great paper. I remember waiting every Thursday for the Flier to be delivered and the pleasure of reading it from cover to cover,” recalled Pat Kennedy, former President of Columbia Association.

In 1983, Tom was selected as the first recipient of the John Hay Whitney Fellowship at the International Herald Tribune, then a daily English-language newspaper published in Paris for English-speaking readers living abroad. Tom, Mary Kay and new born daughter, Eileen, spent a year in Paris with Tom manning a copy desk, editing text from around the globe. The young family, living in an apartment provided along with the job, earned a lifetime of memories, traveling throughout Europe before returning home to Columbia. Daughter Bridget was born in 1986. In 2000, the family returned for a vacation together in France, reliving their favorite memories and making new ones.

Among reporters in the region, Tom was known for his steady, thoughtful and rigorous professionalism. “He was the best editor I ever had,” said award-winning novelist Carrie Brown, one of Tom’s writers in the ‘80s.

“Tom is the reason I moved to Columbia from Boston where I had met him at BC,” said Len Lazarick, founding editor of MarylandReporter.com and a managing editor under Tom at Patuxent Publishing. “Tom was a laid-back editor who wrote amazingly clean copy and knew how to cut the fat out of a story. I can’t remember him ever raising his voice – about anything.”

In 1998, Tom left Patuxent and took a position as a multiplatform editor for The Washington Post, where he remained until retirement in 2019. Freed of concerns about being a subject of news while her husband was running the local newspaper, Mary Kay, who had become a well-known craftsperson and artisan, then embarked upon a career that included serving on the Howard County Council from 2006-2018.

For the past two decades, Tom contributed significantly to World Computer Exchange, an endeavor founded by his college friend Timothy Anderson that connects youth around the world to digital resources. Tom served as WCE’s inaugural chairman of the board and later as the WCE International Advisory Council Chairman. For years, he personally collected unwanted computers in the DC area, coordinated shipments to communities in Africa and the Caribbean and forged significant partnerships in tech education, including with UMBC.

Upon retirement, Tom and Mary Kay bought a truck and fifth wheel trailer and began a series of open road adventures. Among the highpoints were visits to the Texas hill country and Lake Michigan. They returned often to Maine, a favorite destination for family vacations, and the Boston area where friends from BC still reside.

Tom was a gentle and optimistic force to all those who knew him, his sense of humor always cutting in at the most opportune times. He will be remembered as a loving husband and father, a trusted friend, and an accomplished journalist who left a mark on his profession and the many editors and writers he mentored.

In addition to his wife of 48 years, Tom is survived by daughters Eileen Graham of Washington, D.C., and Bridget Graham (Ryan Bixby) of Federalsburg, MD. He is also survived by brothers Monsignor John Graham and Kevin Graham of the Bronx, and sister Mary Cronk (George Cronk), nephews Brendan Cronk (Paulina Cronk) and Kevin Cronk of New Jersey. He was predeceased by parents John and Mary Graham.

A Celebration of Tom Graham’s life is being planned for later this summer.