Thomas Ranson Opie died peacefully in his home on the morning of Wednesday, February 12th, 2025. He is survived by his Wife, Judith Opie, his sister, Eleanor Seiferth, by five children: Grace Opie, Zachary Opie, Gregory Opie, Elena Coyne, and Jesse Opie, and by five Grandchildren: Keeshawn Copeland, Anthony Kent, Amarre Kent, Ariah Kent, and Olivia Opie.
Tom was born in Staunton, Virginia on December 19th, 1948, the son of Hierome Lindsay Opie, and Nellie Rennolds Christian Opie. The Opie family had a distinguished legacy of military and public service in Virginia, dating back to the colonial era and continuing into the present. Their distinguished ancestors included John Augustine Washington, Brother of George Washington, Eugene Lindsay Opie, a noted pathologist, and Richard Henry Lee, a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
From a very young age, Tom was a precocious and curious child, fascinated with nature and the surrounding beauties of the Virginia countryside. Like his distinguished father, owner of the local Staunton News Leader, he was not one to trumpet his own accomplishments, but into his last days, he loved to tell tales of his pet snakes, his amateur zoological exhibitions, and his butterfly collections. In all of this, there was a quiet, confident, and affectionate acquaintance with the workings of the natural world, an acquaintance that also constituted one of the foundations of his faith. Throughout his life, this simple affection for the workings of nature was also emblematic of the open, gentle, and humble manner in which Tom approached everyone he dealt with.
Tom’s precocious and voracious curiosity about the world around him bloomed throughout his high school years. He became an Eagle Scout and graduated valedictorian of his class. He was admitted to Davidson College in North Carolina, where he was active in the ROTC and Civil Air Patrol, participated in the higher posts of student government, was admitted to multiple Greek letter fraternities, including Phi Beta Kappa, and decided to major in chemistry. After finishing college in 1971, he was accepted to Cornell’s Graduate school, supported by several consecutive National Science Foundation Fellowships. He received a PhD in Organic chemistry from Cornell in December of 1975, with a graduate thesis on perfluoro-organometallic compounds. While at Cornell, he also received the Outstanding Graduate Student award in chemistry. His graduate thesis epitaph, taken from Psalms 111:2, well expressed his scientific and spiritual outlook: “Great are the works of the Lord, Studied by all who have pleasure in them”.
That same month, he was hired by the Rohm & Haas company for a position in Philadelphia. For the rest of his career, Tom would work in Pennsylvania, and for the next 26 years he would work for the Rohm & Haas company. During his long career there, Tom did extensive research on safer pesticides, fungicides, and insecticides, contributing to numerous patents. He was involved in many award-winning projects, including a Federal Government Green Chemistry award for ecdysone agonist insecticide research. After Rohm & Haas was bought by Dow, Tom left and engaged in a number of special projects before settling down to work at Polysciences Inc. until his retirement.
It was in his junior year at Davidson College that Tom’s Christian faith deepened through interactions with the Full Gospel Business men’s Fellowship. From that time forward evangelical Christianity was one of the cornerstones of Tom’s worldview and emotional life, naturally complementing his passion for the beauty and intricacy of the natural world. This inspired Tom to take active roles in multiple churches over the years and to take mission trips to American Samoa and South Africa.
In 1980, Tom married Judith May Stokes (now Opie), whom he had met at a Church singles group, and in the ensuing 12 years they had five children together. An Incredibly hard worker, Tom was also a devoted family man, who was attentive to his wife’s every wish and to the desires and the whims of his children. No matter how long a workday Tom had worked, he came home and immediately gave care, attention and nurturing to his children. Indeed, for all his accomplishments, Tom was most invested in his family and his faith. Always careful with his finances, neither money nor prestige mattered much to him.
When Tom had grandchildren, this same pattern was repeated. There was not one of these grandchildren that did not feel that in “pop pop”, “da”, or “grandpop”, they had a gentle, loving, and caring friend. He will be dearly missed.
The family will receive friends from 10 to 10:45 am. Wednesday, February 19, 2025, at Bridge Community Church, 983 Allentown Rd, Lansdale, PA 19446, with the Funeral Service at 11:00 a.m. Burial will be private.
