Former UVM President Thomas P. Salmon Dies at 92full story >>>

Thomas P. Salmon, who served as the 23rd president of the University of Vermont and who was twice elected governor of the Green Mountain State, died Tuesday, January 14, in a convalescent home in Brattleboro. He was 92.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio, in1932, Salmon was raised in Massachusetts. He earned his baccalaureate degree from Boston College, his J.D. from Boston College Law School, and a Master of Law degree from New York University. He moved to Vermont in 1959 and opened a law practice in Bellows Falls.

Salmon served as a town councilor in Rockingham, and as a municipal court judge in Bellows Falls. From 1965 to 1971 he represented Rockingham in the Vermont House of Representatives. In 1972 he was elected governor of the state and was re-elected in 1974.

In November of 1991 the UVM Board of Trustees appointed Salmon interim president. In the interim role, he organized and chaired a broad-based Presidential Commission on Critical Choices, which helped refocus the institution's strategic principles. The trustees then appointed him permanent president in February 1993. He served in that role through June 30, 1997. After leaving UVM he returned to practicing law in Bellows Falls and served until 2002 as chair of the board of Green Mountain Power.

"Tom Salmon will be remembered as a strong leader whose vision and sense of responsibility helped steer UVM along the course of success that it maintains today," Interim President Patricia Prelock said. "He took over the presidency during a challenging period and instilled across campus a disciplined and sustainable approach to fulfilling our land grant mission. Our thoughts are with Tom's family and all whose lives he touched."