Deceased December 30, 2015
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In Memory
Tom died in Gowanda, N.Y., on Dec. 30, 2015, following three surgical procedures in an attempt to increase the flow of blood from his heart to both his legs. The surgical procedures were required because of his adult diabetes.
At Amherst, Tom majored in biology, played on the soccer team all four years and was a member of Delta Upsilon.
After receiving his M.D. degree from Case Western Reserve University Medical School in 1959, Tom was an intern and resident at St. Luke’s Hospital in Cleveland. He then practiced his ear, nose and throat specialties as a captain in the USAF before returning to St. Luke’s, where he was an ENT surgeon and eventually headed that department. Tom also found time to serve as an adjunct professor at his medical school. He left St. Luke’s before it closed and practiced medicine in Olean, N.Y., while living in nearby Portville, an area to which he was attracted after attending both Amherst and secondary school in New England. He was a gifted diagnostician and surgeon and spent much time in trauma surgery.
As a young doctor in New Orleans in the 1960s, Tom learned how to become a chef. This led to his founding of the Au Provence restaurant in Cleveland Heights. He founded the Cedar Hill Wine Co., which provided wine to his eatery as well as to a retail store. The wine came from grapes grown in the wine-growing region of Lake Erie. In later years, Tom’s hobby was building wooden canoes and tending his rose garden.
Tom is survived by a sister, Nancy W. Sharp of Shaker Heights, Ohio; a twin brother, Peter C. Wykoff ’55 of Cleveland; his wife, Joanne; and three children from a previous marriage.
Pete Wykoff ’55