In Memoriam -- Thomas Gardeski

by John Perry, director, printed board standards & technology It is with deep sadness that IPC announces the passing of one of its valued and storied committee members and leaders, Thomas Frank Gardeski, president of Gemini Sciences, LLC. Tom passed away on July 28, 2019. Over the course of his career, Thomas furthered the advancement of flexible circuit, chip scale package (CSP) and high density interconnect (HDI) technology while at Sheldahl, 3M, DuPont and finally his own company, Gemini Sciences, LLC. Thomas joined several IPC standards development task groups in 1999 related to flexible and rigid-flexible printed board technology. In 2003 Thomas assumed the chair position of the IPC D-10 Flexible Circuits Committee. In doing so, Thomas led and supported numerous efforts to develop and revise such IPC standards as IPC-2223 for flexible circuit design, the IPC-420X series for flexible materials performance, IPC-6013 for flexible printed board performance and the various IPC-TM-650 Test Methods related to these documents. Outside of work, Thomas was a 9th degree Black Belt and was inducted into the International Martial Arts Hall of Fame in 2003. Thomas was also an expert-level big wave surfer and was known to surf at the legendary Banzai Pipeline in Oahu, Hawaii. His energy, enthusiasm and valuable contributions to the industry will be missed by many. On behalf of the electronics industry, IPC offers its condolences to Thomas’ wife Carole Ann Gardeski and their family.