The Queen’s community is remembering Tom Bradshaw, the long-time manager of the School of Computing, who died on Dec. 29, following a battle with cancer. He was 66.

Bradshaw had a connection with the university spanning nearly 50 years, first arriving at Queen’s in 1974 as a student and graduating with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Mathematics in 1978. He would then join the Department of Computing and Information Science in September 1979. On the systems side he began with punch cards and guided the department and then the School of Computing all the way through Unix servers, virtual machines, the rise of Linux, Internet of Things, cloud computing, and machine learning.

“The School of Computing has lost one of its foundational members. For 42 years, Tom was instrumental in the development of the School of Computing to what it is now,” says Hossam Hassanein, Director, School of Computing. “Throughout his years of service, Tom was always there to help, support and take action. He always went over and beyond to serve the school. I will miss him and learned a lot from him. We will continue to work hard for the school as Tom would have wanted us to.”

While continuing his work, Bradshaw also earned his Master’s degree in Computer Science 1987.

“Tom helped guide the department into the School of Computing and managed generations of staff,” says Ben Hall, a colleague and friend for 20 years. “He helped his colleagues through countless crises, both personal and professional, and has done much to establish and maintain the amazing culture of the School of Computing.

“Tom’s impact here has been quiet but profound and will be felt for many years to come. We have all benefited greatly from his presence. He wouldn’t stop helping despite being diagnosed with cancer, and even when that forced his retirement.”