From the American Casting Club web site-
When Tom died on December 15th after complications from a recently diagnosed autoimmune disease that destroyed his kidneys. After a four month long fight, his body gave out. At the time of his death, he was still serving as president of the Golden Gate Angling and Casting Club. He is survived by his beloved wife Elaine Gong. Tom will be remembered for his easy going, fun personality, his volunteerism and fair adjudication of the rules.
Over the years, Tom served as ACA president, president of the Oakland Casting Club and lastly, GGACC. He is responsible for helping start many new casters. He held the Senior Men Angler's Fly Distance record, until it was broken by Cajun Bill, who Tom was coaching and used Tom's own rod! Tom began tournament casting in the mid-1980's and enjoyed fly-fishing with bamboo and old fiberglass rods in the new millennium. In his sixties, he began learning how to cast with switch and double-hand rods and enjoyed watching Spey-O-Rama at his club.
Tom earned a PhD from the Department of Zoology at UC Berkeley with an emphasis in cell biology. He retired after spending over 20 years as a research scientist in biotechnology. Everyone will miss Tom Gong.
