Thomas Henderson Aycock

CHAPEL HILL – Tom Aycock, died in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, on June 21, 2017. He was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on November 29, 1958. In 1959, his family moved to Huntsville, Alabama, and, in 1969, to Greensboro, North Carolina. As an adult, he made his home in Chapel Hill.

As a young man, Tom served as an acolyte at Holy Trinity Episcopal Church in Greensboro. At Page High School, Tom was on the swimming and diving team, and he continued on the team for UNC-Chapel Hill, while he was at school there. Tom was a chef at at Pyewacket Restaurant and at UNC Hospitals. While at UNC Hospitals, he took great pride in the fact that he was providing nourishment and comfort for patients and their families. Those of us who knew Tom will miss him most keenly while fishing at the ocean, eating a hearty meal, dealing a hand of Bridge, bowling a few frames, or puzzling through an intricately folded solution to the Rubik’s Cube. He loved his family, fed us well, and beat the tar out of us at almost any game we played with him.

He is survived by his mother, Jane Williams Aycock; brothers, Benjamin Aycock V (Heidi), William D. Aycock (Kathleen Kelley), Charles Aycock and David Aycock (Tracy); nieces and nephews, Samantha Aycock, Benjamin Aycock, Gregory Aycock, Johnathan Aycock, Vincent Aycock, Lauren Aycock and Samuel Aycock. He was preceded in death by his father, Benjamin Franklin Aycock, VI.

Tom’s family and friends will honor him at the beach on Hatteras Island, scattering his ashes into the waters where he spent many hours fishing in the surf and amusing the sea gulls. A memorial service will be planned for later this summer

Tom’s memory would be honored best by donations to the Be Loud! Sophie Foundation (https://beloudsophie.org), which supports adolescent and young adult cancer patients and their families at UNC Hospitals where Tom worked, or the North Carolina Coastal Land Trust (https://coastallandtrust.org), which works to protect lands where Tom loved to fish.

And lest we forget: Many men walk the streets of Soho in the rain with holes in the soles of their shoes because they failed to run trump.