Michael Noble Thomas' Obituary
Michael Noble Thomas passed peacefully on October 18, 2023. He rested at home with family and friends in hospice care.
Michael was born in Paris, TN on November 27, 1939, the son of James Crenshaw Thomas and his former spouse Eileen Noble Shuck. He moved a lot, including Memphis, Owensboro, and Waco. He attended Baylor University for his Bachelor’s, University of Alabama for a Master’s and the University of North Carolina for his PhD in Biostatistics.
He married Nancy Robeson Thomas in 1986 and together they made a life in North Carolina, California, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Egypt and of course Emerald Isle. The cottage on the beach became a place for Thanksgiving celebrations, cooking up a storm, and they always finished with Michael’s pies and tarts.
His early love for international reproductive health became a life passion and he took it up again at 60. He travelled to many difficult countries introducing evidence-based medicine.
His middle years he took his great gift of amassing clinical data into a cogent story, to enable FDA approval for drugs for several companies. His early work at Glaxo, lead to him starting his own business, Priority Statistics, where he served other companies’ new drug approvals. After all, he was always, always an entrepreneur, creative and bold.
More than anything he cherished sailing with Nancy, as they sailed off to new islands again and again, and also sailing their boat, Celebration, in the Pamlico River, then San Francisco Bay and, finally the Chesapeake. Together they were fearless and joyful.
He was blessed with a life-time chosen brother, John Tomaro that he served up a fresh supply of trash talk and sports yak all through their lives as they lived, worked, and travelled together.
He was devoted to Shalom Mountain, an experiential personal growth retreat center for individual’s, men’s, couple’s, and elder’s work. He did it all. In his last ten years he became a steady presence at the Elders’ retreats. He came to be called “a man’s man” whose heart touched many. And where he made friends of a lifetime. Especially, his dear Soul brother, Lawrence Stibbards.
Even with all his world travel, he was devoted to the Tarheels of UNC basketball and Coach Dean Smith. Each new team gave him a whole new set of sons.
His early years in the Peace Corp in Nigeria came full circle when dear caretakers in his last years happened to be Nigerian!
He was a self-avowed sports lover, political junkie, cat lover, opera lover, and was noticeably competitive in tennis, chess and knowing the Top 10 Songs with his daughter, Rachel.
In addition to his wife, Nancy, he is survived by his two daughters: Susan Thomas DeKeyser and Rachel Thomas; their mother, his first wife, Sharon Bischofshausen; two grand-twins: Lucy and Jake; and a host of nieces and nephews.
Charitable contributions in lieu of flowers can be made to Planned Parenthood of NC, now known as Planned Parenthood of the South Atlantic. This would make him smile.
A celebration will be held May 18,2024 in Annapolis.
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