Thomas H. Miner, 92, of Chicago, passed away peacefully, on April 10, 2020, surrounded by his wife of 36 years, Lucyna, and sons Robert (Yulia) and William (Jamie).

Thomas was born in Shelbyville, Illinois, on June 19, 1927, to Lester Ward and Thirza (Hawley) Miner. He was the eldest of three children.

He attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point and became a Captain in the U.S. Army. He received a B.A. in Economics from Knox College, Galveston, IL, a J.D. from the University of Illinois College of Law and was admitted to the Illinois Bar in 1954. In his early years in Chicago, he served on the Board of Directors of Lakeside Bank, the Grant Park Musical Association and was a Trustee of the Fourth Presbyterian Church of Chicago.

He formed Thomas H. Miner & Associates in 1960. His clients included large and small firms, as well as the State and Commerce Departments of the U. S. Government, foreign companies, foreign governments. As a patriot, he assisted the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in placing deep cover agents within his global offices in the world’s hot spots during the Cold War beginning in 1962 following the Cuba Missile Crisis.

In 1974, on approval from President Nixon, he headed the first business delegation to China following the president’s 1972 state visit and the softening of Sino-U.S. diplomatic relations. With official sanction, Miner escorted prominent business leaders to Beijing to “open up” China to Western markets. Thereafter Miner welcomed every Chinese president to the U.S. following the reign of Mao Zedong during their official trade visits.

He met Lucyna Minciel at Chicago and they were married on July 22,1983.

Thomas was an active member in a wide range of international oriented business and philanthropic organizations and received numerous awards and accolades throughout his life.

His friends and colleagues from divergent worlds of high finance, business and government in domestic and international circles remember Tom for his generous spirit, his enthusiasm and vision in forecasting a coming era of globalization in the darkest years of the Cold War. His relationship building skills wove politics and commerce and changed that landscape by significantly altering how and where the U.S. conducted business.

His family remembers him as a loving husband and father. He enjoyed spending time with his family: taking trips to Jamaica and Florida during school breaks, traveling around the world, and during summer months attending Chicago’s Grant Park Music Festival and White Sox games. In 2019, Thomas celebrated his 82nd birthday surrounded by family and friends. He was an upbeat and optimistic person, and he will be remembered this way.

He was preceded in death by his siblings, Charles L. Miner and Ruth Y. McDade. In addition to his wife and sons, Miner is survived by three nieces and a nephew.

A memorial service will be held at a future date.

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