Dr. Thomas Stanley Freeman, a 41-year resident of Pacific Palisades, died on July 21 at his Alma Real home following a prolonged struggle with Parkinson’s disease.
Tom, who was born in Chicago on April 22, 1942, was a member of the American Board of Pediatrics and practiced general pediatrics at Kaiser Permanente West Los Angeles for 28 years. Before joining Kaiser, he practiced at various Los Angeles County clinics. He spent two years in the U.S. Army as a staff pediatrician at Fort Sheridan in Illinois.
After majoring in chemistry and physics as an undergraduate at Harvard University, Tom graduated from the Harvard Medical School in 1969. He received his pediatric training at UCLA.
Tom met his wife Joan in college, where they both sang in the Harvard and Radcliffe choruses. They became a couple when they sang together as part of a Harvard chorus that toured North America in 1964, having their first “official” date in the Red Dog Saloon in Juneau, Alaska. They continued to sing together in various choruses for most of their 47 years of marriage. They were long-standing members of the adult choir and the holiday choirs at University Synagogue in Brentwood, and of the Palisades-Brentwood Chorale. They also were members of the Palisades Democratic Club.
Tom is survived by his wife Joan; son Jonathan of Sherman Oaks; daughter Melanie of Ashland, Oregon, and her two children, Rhythm and Tahlia.
A memorial service will celebrate his life at 12 noon on Wednesday, August 7, at University Synagogue, located on Sunset Boulevard in Brentwood.
The family requests that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made in Tom’s memory to the Parkinson’s Disease Foundation or to the Palisades-Brentwood Chorale (P.O. Box 214, Pacific Palisades, CA 90272; or call manager Eva Holberg at 454-8040).
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