2014 Globe-News Man of the Year, Tom Cambridge, dies at age 87
Tom Cambridge, the 2014 Amarillo Globe-News Man of the Year, died peacefully on Friday, March 24. He was 87.
At the time of his AGN honor in early 2015, Cambridge, an Iowa transplant, had lived in Amarillo for 55 years and dedicated nearly six decades to working with many nonprofits and charities, including Opportunity School, Panhandle-Plains Historical Museum (PPHM) and more.
The January 2015 AGN article noted Cambridge was named Man of the Year "for quietly, consistently — yet profoundly — benefitting nonprofits and charities locally for nearly six decades." The article also notes Cambridge had been a major player with Opportunity School since the prekindergarten school for low-income families opened in 1969.
"His work also extends from the large and obvious like guiding PPHM through a financial crisis as its board president, but also to the less so, like purchasing handrails at Amarillo Little Theatre after a renovation revealed a need for them," the article reads.
"In my opinion, we're not here to help ourselves, but be part of a community, and by that, it's helping to make this great city better by giving of yourself," Cambridge said in the article.
His memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday, April 1, at First Presbyterian Church in Amarillo, according to Boxwell Brothers Funeral Directors, Amarillo, who is handling arrangements.
According to his obituary, Cambridge was born on May 16, 1935, in Atlantic, Iowa and was the middle child of three boys. Tom met his future wife, Norma Jane Taggart at Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa. They would marry on March 1, 1957, and then move to Lincoln, Nebraska where he completed his master’s degree in Geology while also serving in the U.S. Army. Upon graduation, he was hired by Texaco to become an oil field geologist. He and Norma packed up their 1959 Chevrolet Impala, and with 1-year-old Tommy, moved to Amarillo. He worked for Texaco and Texas Pacific Oil before joining forces with A.L. Nail to form Cambridge & Nail Petroleum Exploration. Cambridge developed a reputation first in the Texas Panhandle, and then nationally, as a respected scientist and interpreter of oil and gas field statistics. He later formed Cambridge Production Inc. and maintained a career in the oil business for more than 50 years.
In other accolades, his success earned him the honor of Panhandle Producers and Royalty Owners Association’s “Living Legend” award in 2012. In 2008, on National Philanthropy Day, Cambridge and his wife were recognized as Amarillo's Outstanding Volunteer Fundraisers.
Among other duties, Cambridge served on the Boards of Northwest Texas Hospital, the Amarillo Chapter of The American Cancer Society, The Campfire Girls, and the Opportunity School, an institution that he and Norma helped to found in 1969. He was a long-standing member of First Presbyterian Church, and served as Deacon, Elder, and Benefactor.
The family requests any donations in Tom’s name be made to Opportunity School, 1100 S. Harrison, Amarillo, TX, 79101.
This article originally appeared on Amarillo Globe-News: 2014 Globe-News Man of the Year, Tom Cambridge, dies at age 87
