Thomas William Tesche

Thomas William “Tom” Tesche, 79, died peacefully in his sleep on September 21, 2026, in Tampa, Florida. He was born on June 16, 1947, in La Jolla, California, to Frederick Rutledge Tesche and Marilyn Jeanne Tesche.

A gifted athlete from a young age, Tom was a record-setting track and field competitor in New Mexico, where his high school hurdles record stood for many years. He also earned a black belt in karate.

Tom graduated magna cum laude from the University of New Mexico in 1969 with a degree in mechanical engineering. He went on to the University of California, Davis, as a National Science Foundation Scholar, earning his master’s degree in 1971 and his Ph.D. in civil and environmental engineering in 1974.

Tom was a renowned atmospheric scientist and meteorologist. He began his career at Los Alamos and Sandia national laboratories and, after graduate school, helped develop the Urban Airshed Model, a forerunner of the air-quality models used today. He founded Alpine Geophysics in 1985 and Climate & Atmospheric Research Associates in 2008. He served on EPA science work groups that shaped national guidance for meeting Clean Air Act standards for ozone and fine-particle pollution, and his modeling studies helped more than 40 U.S. cities and regions, as well as cities abroad, design their pollution-control plans.

He wrote more than 400 reports, papers, and articles. An excellent teacher, he taught graduate courses as an adjunct professor at UC Davis from 1978 to 1990, generously sharing his knowledge with the students and colleagues who followed him. His work made a lasting difference in the air millions of people breathe.

Outside his work, Tom was a skilled and passionate outdoorsman who was most at home in the mountains and on the water. He served on the National Ski Patrol in the Sierra Nevada and worked as an avalanche expert with the International Olympic Committee at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary. He led whitewater river trips on major American rivers, including the Colorado through the complex and wondrous Grand Canyon, and spent many happy days hunting, fishing, and hiking in his beloved Rockies.

Tom was one of those rare people who both understood the science of nature and knew how to move through it with skill. He devoted his career to studying and teaching how the natural world works, and he was just as expert at enjoying and navigating it: skiing, avalanche control, search and rescue, and guiding rafts safely through the whitewater of major U.S. rivers. He was deeply committed to the science and policy of environmental protection, and he loved the earth and its natural beauty abundantly.

While living in Crested Butte, Colorado, Tom and his son Forester’s mother, Debra, taught Forester much about the outdoors. Tom’s legacy of connectedness to nature lives on in his son to this day.

Tom and his wife, Kimberly Chmura, made their home together in Boise, Idaho, for many years, where they shared their lives with several Siberian Huskies, a breed Tom dearly loved. Kimberly died on April 7, 2026, and Tom later moved to Tampa to be near family.

Tom was a man of faith, and those who knew him will remember his quick wit, keen intelligence, and sense of humor as fondly as his many accomplishments.

Tom is survived by his son, David Forester Tesche (known as Forester), and Forester’s wife, Saren Yater-Wallace, and by their son, Tom’s new grandson, Wilder. He is also survived by his brothers, Frederick Mark Tesche (Sharon) of Avon, Connecticut, and Daniel Clyde Tesche (Ruth Dobbins) of Citra, Florida, and by his sister, Caroline Tesche Arkin, and her husband, Dr. Steven Arkin, of Tampa. He was preceded in death by his wife, Kimberly, and by his parents.

A private celebration of life will be arranged by the family. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Sierra Club or Habitat for Humanity.