Thomas (Tom) C. Blandy

Troy - Thomas (Tom) Blandy, 88, died July 10, 2020.  

Born in Albany, he was the son of Dallam Eddy Blandy and Ruth Thomas Blandy. He graduated from Harvard College and the Harvard Graduate School of Design and was a registered NYS architect. In Boston he worked on the State Street Bank Building, schools and houses. He and his wife Susan Griswold Blandy moved to Troy in 1966 where they were part of building civic groups like the RCCA, TAP, TRIP, TAUM, Community Gardens, and the CHP (now CDPHP). With Marcia Hopple he organized a scientific study of Barberville Falls for the Nature Conservancy. In 1968 he and Susan bought the Hinkle Farm in Poestenkill which became Common Farms whose lands are protected by the Rensselaer Land Trust.

At Cadman & Droste he designed the award-winning HVCC Library, the first pre-stressed concrete building in the Capital District. He also designed Elm Ave. Park in Delmar, but came to specialize in adaptive re-use and energy conservation. This included the Junior Museum in Troy, with TAP, and several passive solar buildings. His book All Through the House with Denis Lamoureux was cited by the National Geographic. This led to his firm, with Rex Clark, Princeton Energy Partners (aka The House Doctors) whose pioneering home energy audit techniques are common today. With Dean Leith of Garden Way, he sued to stop the building of the Hoosick Street bridge as a super highway. When downtown Troy was threatened with total demolition, he and RPI professor Ken Warriner advocated tirelessly for preserving the Victorian buildings, work that continues in Troy’s present revitalization. For many years the family owned the Sarah Tracey house in Lansingburgh.

In the 1980s and 1990s he served on the Troy School Board. He took over from Ken Dufty as head of Concerned Citizens for the Environment in the community fight against the Green Island Incinerator (American Ref Fuel) and GE PCBs. Tom’s environmental papers are now in the University of Albany archives including the records of the Perpetual Garage Sale. In mid-life he suffered from crippling depression, was treated appropriately, recovered and flourished, exhibiting great zest for life in his last decades. After his final cancer diagnosis, he immediately planned a party, inviting everyone he knew. He loved art, dance and jazz and creating sculptures and cabinetry in his basement workshop. He was intensely supportive of his wife, sons and grandchildren. He wrote countless Letters to the Editor, hated ignorance, greed, bigotry and injustice. He is survived by his wife, his sons James (Jim) (Vivienne Tanaka) and Charles (Janet McKelvey), grandchildren Madoka, Mika, Madeleine and Nicholas, Blandy relatives, 3 loyal sisters-in-law and his wife’s extended family which now includes 10 nationalities.

Our thanks to Van Rensselaer Manor, Hospice at Samaritan Hospital and his friends Jackie Pazdur and Steven Davis for their good care. In memory of Tom please exhibit stubborn generosity, gratitude and love, plant a tree (ask at TAP), fight for community, justice and mercy; be creative and funny. Tom would love that.

A memorial will be held Friday October 8th at 3pm at the Chapel and Cultural Center on 2125 Burdett Ave. in Troy. Covid protocols will be observed. A reception at the Blandy home will follow. 

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