Thomas William Cunningham

Thomas (Thom) W. Cunningham was born in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, on September 26, 1943, the only son of Eleanor and John E. Cunningham. From an early age, Thom possessed a curiosity about the world and an appreciation for beauty that would shape both his life and his career.

As a high school senior, he was chosen to represent his school at an event at the American Embassy in Madrid, Spain. That first encounter with Madrid and the historic cities surrounding it awakened in him a lifelong passion for art, architecture, travel, and fine dining—pleasures he would continue to pursue with enthusiasm throughout his life.

After high school, Thom enrolled at Lehigh University, where he majored in English. He later served in the United States Army and was stationed at Fort Knox, Kentucky. After two years of service, he received an honorable discharge and was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal. He then continued his education at Villanova University in Philadelphia, earning a degree in psychology.

Following graduation, Thom set out for New York City with $200 in his pocket, a single suitcase, and a determination to make a life for himself. Although his academic background was in English and psychology, his extraordinary visual sense and innate gift for design soon attracted the attention of executives at CBS Television. He was hired as a set decorator and spent nine years helping create the visual worlds of some of television’s best-known programs, including The Ed Sullivan Show, children’s program, game shows, musical specials, and daytime dramas. His work on the long-running soap opera As the World Turns earned him Emmy nominations two years in a row.

After leaving CBS, Thom established his own successful interior design business, bringing the same imagination and meticulous eye to private homes and commercial spaces. He had a particular gift for lighting and understood instinctively how it could transform a room, reveal its architecture, and bring a design fully to life. His work reflected the qualities that defined Thom himself: sophistication, warmth, originality, and an uncompromising appreciation for beauty.

But Thom’s gifts extended far beyond design. He was generous with his talents and deeply compassionate toward others. He served on the board of Alpha Design, a nonprofit organization that trained and employed people living with HIV in the decorative arts at a time when an HIV diagnosis still carried profound stigma and discrimination. Thom did more than lend his name to the organization; he hired many of its workers for his own projects, giving them the opportunity to use their talents with dignity and pride.

It was in New York that Thom met the great love of his life, Lorenzo Pablo Martinez. What began there grew into an extraordinary partnership that endured for fifty-two years. For fifteen of those years, they were husband and husband, having married in a private ceremony in New Jersey as soon as same-sex marriage became legal there. Together they built a life filled with travel, music, art, wonderful meals, beloved dogs, enduring friendships, laughter, and, above all, devotion to one another.

Thom possessed an extraordinary appetite for life. He was curious, stylish, discerning, adventurous, and endlessly interested in the world around him. A beautiful building could stop him in his tracks. A memorable meal could become the subject of conversation for years. He loved discovering new places, returning to old favorites, surrounding himself with beauty, and sharing those pleasures with the people he loved. Even after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease two years before his death, his curiosity, humor, and enthusiasm for life remained undiminished.

He leaves behind his devoted husband of fifteen years and partner of fifty-two, Lorenzo Pablo Martinez; his sweet dog, Ronnie; his beloved nieces, Sann Knipple and Alia McKee; and his sister- and brother-in-law, Rosy and Jon A. McKee. He also leaves behind five first cousins on his mother’s side and two on this father’s side.

Those who knew Thom will remember a man of exceptional taste and talent, enormous generosity, fierce loyalty, a wonderfully independent spirit, and an abiding capacity for enjoying life. He knew that beauty mattered, that friendship mattered, that kindness mattered—and that life, however long it lasted, was meant to be savored.

And Thom knew exactly how he liked his martinis: dry, with three olives.