Tom Iampietro, a teacher by avocation and a life-long scholar of the sea, passed away on March 4, 2020 from sudden congestive heart failure. He was 67, and had just moved to Wiscasset in June to begin retirement after 44 years of educating young people in independent schools.

Tom was born in New York, but his family’s many corporate made him a global citizen long before that term trended. He found his most satisfying home at Colgate University, where he earned both his BA and MAT and shaped his skills as a historian, college counselor, and women’s ice hockey coach. Tom and his wife, Canny Cahn, began their 49-year partnership on that campus. It was their bedrock.

Tom’s first two years in the classroom were spent at Horace Greeley High School (Chappaqua, New York) where he taught history and organized the school's women’s track program. Lured to the special life of boarding school education, he spent 25 years at Stoneleigh Burnham School, a boarding school for women(Greenfield, Massachusetts) as a teacher and dean. He followed this tenure with another 17 years as History Department chair, College Counselor, and Dean of the Senior Class at the co-educational Hamden Hall Country Day School (Hamden, Connecticut). Tom spent some of his most memorable summers working with the Northfield-Mount Hermon School’s Upward Bound Program and Mystic Seaport’s docent group. He was excited to begin volunteering at the Maine Maritime Museum later this month.

Tom’s love of the sea and its history drew him not just to the waters, but to writing. He published articles on American and British naval history, the most recent piece through Oxford University, and was currently in the midst of authoring his first book. He meshed his love of animals with his affection for history and literature; his first Maine Coon cat, Horatio Lord Nelson, and rescue dog, Lady Emma Hamilton, were the first of a long line of “family members” named for these interests.

None of Tom's interests surpassed his dedication to coaching women athletes. He guided teams in soccer, volleyball, lacrosse, ice hockey, and field hockey for over four decades and served as the head of the Women’s New England Private School Soccer League. Tom’s support for women’s sports programs and his stewardship of all of his student’s rights to strong educational and social opportunities made him a prescient spokesperson for balanced gender issues long before these ideas gained wide acceptance. Both Stoneleigh Burnham and Hamden Hall named scholarships in his honor funded by his students. Hundreds of cards, letter, and comments on social media from students and colleagues attest to his devotion to the lives he came to know and never let go: his greatest honor was to serve as a friend and mentor to others. This month, one group of students has planned a charity walk in his honor (“The Tom Iampietro O Captain, My Captain Walk for the Dana Farber Cancer Institute”) and many of them hope to visit Wiscasset to spend time with Canny. Tom’s legacy is wide and long.

In addition to his wife, Tom is survived by his dad, Phillip Iampietro Sr.; his brother, Phillip (Mina, son Ken); sisters, Hollis (Jamie, children Sam, James, and Shea)) and Meagan (Guthrie Sr., children Guthrie Jr. and Hallie).
He was predeceased by his mother, Mary Louise Iampietro. Tom said that he always felt lucky to have found a second family Canny’s parents and siblings: his mother-in-law Evelyn, his late father-in-law Bernard, his sisters-in-law Stacey (Michael) and Wendy. Tom treasured his close friend and Hamden Hall colleague, Sue Toole.

Through almost 20 summers in the Boothbay Harbor region before his full-time retirement to Wiscasset this July, Tom knew Maine long enough to build enduring friendships. Jack and Barbara Brennan, Kim Martin, Ben Teel, Jeff Teel, the Paddlers, the 1812 Meetinghouse Whine About It trivia team and, for so many remarkable reasons, the Hill People of Bayview Heights became his family here. He felt lucky to live among the creative and common sense folks of Wiscasset.

At his request, Tom’s remains have been scattered over the places he loved best. He will always be a part of Maine. The family wishes to thank the remarkable Wiscasset Ambulance and Wiscasset Police who brought him to Miles Hospital and the dedicated doctors, nurses, and staff at Maine Medical Center. Advanced Funeral in Portland cared for him with compassion.

Tom – We wish you fair winds and following seas.