Share Your Favorite Memories of Tom Francis Garvin (2024)

Tom was truly one of a kind.

I remember a large group dinner, maybe 10 to 12 people. As a social ice breaker, I asked everyone around the table to say what their childhood nickname was and why. When it came round to Tom, we learned that his nickname was “Crash” from when he played football.

“Crash” Garvin. What an apt nickname.

Tom crashed through life. He took life in large strides, by storm.

He was a vast resource of knowledge and experience with a ready encyclopedic explanation for any question put to him, a veritable human chat GPT of the pre digital era covering wide ranges of topics large and small from global geopolitical developments to international flight connection schedules.

One year at Cannes, Tom and I were working on a transaction, and he kindly invited me to dinner on my last night before returning home.

We went to some spot in back of the Carlton Hotel and towards the end of the dessert course, he reached into his coat pocket and slowly slid a folded piece of paper across the table and said,

“This is for you.”

I said, “What’s that?”

He replied in his polite and slightly deadpan way, which most times denoted some kind of mischief,

“I need you to stay in Cannes one more day for this deal, so I have changed your flight schedule back to Los Angeles to the following day.”

This was the early 2000’s. I had no idea that someone could actually do that!

But Tom knew.

When I got back to my room, I phoned my wife Jenn to let her know that I was not coming home the next day and she told me “Well that explains why someone had delivered a bouquet of white roses and a case of wine to the house today,” including an apologetic note from Tom for keeping me one more day.

She also said, “take as much time as you like”, but that’s another matter.

That was Tom. He was simply the best and a great and true friend.

For those of us who knew him and loved him, we are all diminished.

If there could possibly be a silver lining, it’s that he will most certainly already have the next place fully wired for us and will be there to greet us with his warm laugh and broad smile.

Tom will be remembered fondly for his extensive efforts to meet the co*cktail hour and beyond, wherever he happened to be in the world. His favourite saying was “It’s always 6 o’clock somewhere”. As an example, during a Sundance trip to Beijing, he insisted we haul backpacks full of chilled champagne and orange juice onto the Great Wall of China so that at the appropriate time he could serve Mimosas while astonished Chinese tourists looked on. In Cannes, he was always reluctant to leave a restaurant until its entire supply of high-end Sancerre had been consumed by his guests and in Queenstown, New Zealand, delegates at a law conference cleaned out an entire cellar at his instigation. We often travelled in a gang putatively named Hollywood Safaris. We landed on the lawn of Shiwa Ngandu, a stately home far into the Zambian bush. Tom as usual had boarded several cases of wine which he began to offload. Our hosts were horrified : “But we have plenty of wine and your stay is all-inclusive”. Tom replied; “Maybe, but I’m afraid that does not mean there’s enough” as another case descended onto the pristine grass.

I first met Tom through his good freind ( and mine ) Robbert Aarts when I moved to LA from Sydney. About 25 years ago. I was new in town and was still practicing law between continents and then he showed up as the lawyer on the other side of me on a transaction. He was a formidable lawyer. Smart as a whip. Quick witted and really knew how to navigate tough waters. He was confident and quite intimidating! If you were up against Tom Garvin you had to be ready to do battle. He liked to win. But he also liked to party ! and enjoyed the important things in life. Good wine, food and conversation. His AFM Soiree was always the first Saturday night and the international crowd attended because Tom had a lot of foreign clients from Germany and the Uk , Netherlands and all over Europe. It was always a highlight! We all looked forward to it every year! Tom was a unique individual with many talents and was also a generous and caring freind to many. He is much missed. RIP dear Tom.

Tom'a parties in Marina del Rey are legendary. Great food , fine wine, an array of interesting folk from several continents with Tom the true host buzzing around like a beautiful bee. Tom was a man of great taste and a wonderful listener. A true gentleman. Thank you for yiur warmth and generosity. R.I.P. Tom Garvin

Please consider a donation to any cause of your choice.

Originally we developed a cordial relationship where Tom helped me and my partner Niels Teves to establish ourselves during the Management Buy Out of Fintage House. Tom was not your regular lawyer. No, he was much more than that. He helped us to buy our business and gave us solicited (and unsolicited) advice. Tom was extremely confident and smart. He helped me very much to becoming an enterpreneur. He spent months in Europe; travelling between London, Munich and Amsterdam, at the same time working on multiple ventures. He loved his business life but was also very much interested in building personal relationships with friends around the world. I felt very special being included in the ‘storms’ that Tom created. I learned from the best!

In the dutch language we have the expression that someone is a Burgundian. It means that you thoroughly embrace life, that someone appreciates the finer things in life and to get the maximum out of it. This exuberance characterized Tom. He had an holistic approach to life, where working crazy hours was no problem but enjoying camaraderie was at least as important.

I had many epic dinners with Tom over the years. Our guilty pleasure was Asian food, accompanied by white wine. This was a global effort: from LA, London, Amsterdam, Sydney, Park City, Munich, Brussels, Bangkok, Toronto, Berlin, Cannes, Las Vegas to many other places.

Tom was an extremely generous person and never asked for anything in return. Tom flew from LA to Amsterdam for just 1 day to attend the funeral of our son Alexander, who died in 2009. This is how he was.

Whenever I brought my family to LA, Tom and Ann would host us at the Hollywood Bowl; often sitting at the ‘pool area’ very close to the podium. Tom (and Ann’s) hospitality had no limits.

In LA we hung out at Tom and Ann’s house, watching Election, the Oscars, Golden Globes and the 3 of us would have many dinners at Chinois and Capo; actually until a few weeks before he died.

What a guy. Tom was a truly unique person and I am truly honored to have been so close to him. Miss you my friend.