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LIBERTY TOWNSHIP -- Thomas Edwin Fornear, 79, died Friday, July 24, 2026, after a brief hospitalization at St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
Tom was born on Sept. 23, 1946, in Lynwood, California, a son of the late Frank and Marjorie Link Fornear.
He moved to this area as a young boy and attended Austintown Local and Austintown Fitch High schools, from which he graduated in 1964.
In a life-defining decision, Tom enlisted in the Army in 1966, and was assigned to Army Security, specializing in Morse code intercept. He was in Hue, Vietnam, from 1967 to 1968. He finished his service in Germany, again working in intelligence, then intercepting Soviet Bloc communications.
Returning to college on the GI Bill, Tom earned a bachelor's degree from Youngstown State University, later adding teaching credentials while engaged in post-grad studies.
In his working years, Tom was most gratified by his job in urban development for Mahoning and Trumbull counties' regional government; his teaching in several area schools, and especially his time at Choffin in the Youngstown City School District; as well as his managerial position at the upscale Temperance House in Newtown, Pa.
Friends, family and his best-ever wife, Kerry, will always remember Tom as a big personality. He was a consummate card player and a dart god; the quintessential bartender; a studied music aficionado; an encyclopedia of film and television facts; and a student as well as a teacher of world and U.S. history. He was the original Google to whom friends posed random questions. He was a master of acerbic wit.
Besides his parents, Tom was preceded in death by a son, Matthew, and a sister, Shelley Lynne Fornear.
He is survived by his best friend and loving wife of 36 years, Kerry Angelo; sisters, Judy Fabian and Ellen Fornear; son, Sean (Gina Capobianco) Lacivita; nephew, Michael (Stephanie) Pylypiw; great-nephew, Nicholas Pylypiw; long-time friend, Jeffrey Crouse; and cats, Nellie and Nate.
As per Tom's expressed wishes, there will be no traditional services; rather, a memorial party will take place at a later date.
If you would like to honor Tom in some small way, a donation to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital or any veterans' group would be fitting.
Arrangements were by Cremation & Funeral Service by Gary S Silvat Inc.
Send condolences and share memories by visiting cremateohio.com.
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