A few years ago, a small group of alumni proposed putting up a statue honoring the Indian, Stanford’s former mascot. Some offended students wanted to demand that the issue be dropped, but Thom Massey, associate dean of multicultural education, insisted on conversation. Colleague Winona Simms remembers that one alum, slamming his fists on the table, told the group, “I will have my way on this.” Massey quietly but firmly told the man to sit down. “You need to know that I played football here, and all my degrees are from Stanford,” Massey said. “I even played as an Indian, and I have come to understand this. You need to sit down and hear the pain that these students are expressing.” The issue eventually just faded away.
Thomas James Massey, ’69, MA ’72, the resident fellow at Lagunita’s Naranja dorm, died January 1 at his home on campus of an apparent heart attack. He was 61.
Massey, a prominent member of the black community on campus, worked in a variety of roles in student affairs, including as assistant dean of student affairs and as assistant director of the Graduate Life Office. He co-authored the book Mediation: Transforming Conflict Through Communication, and started Faces of the Community, a New Student Orientation program highlighting diversity on campus.
Simms, director of the Native American Cultural Center, says that his gentle gift for working with students will be most missed. She recalled a time Massey helped a student who had been admitted to Stanford Hospital for intoxication. “She was despondent . . . and crying,” Simms recalls. “He took her hand, said a few magical words, and she opened up like a flower. She told him everything.” Massey and Simms worked with the student’s family to get her help.
Massey is survived by his son, Tajai, ’97, his daughter, Julana, his former wife, Grace Carroll, ’71, MA ’75, PhD ’75, and five grandchildren.
