Jeff Thompson

Jeff Thompson, 64, died May 24, 2011 at Odyssey Hospice, Columbus, Ohio, of metastatic angiosarcoma. Jeff was born April 13, 1947 in Newark, Ohio and was a graduate of Newark High School and The Ohio State University. After graduation, Jeff taught fourth-grade special education students for three years before forming a partnership with friends and opening Abraxas, a Bultaco motorcycle dealership in Jacksontown, and later Lancaster, Ohio. Having exhausted all possibilities of fun with the dealership, the partners dissolved the business after a few years and Jeff moved on to serve for 17 years as corporate communications director for the now-defunct Cardinal Industries. Jeff then established his own advertising agency, Pro Forma Communications (later known as The Ad Works), specializing in marketing communications for builders and developers. Other clients were ARC Industries and The Columbus Academy. Jeff’s true vocational passion, however, was photography. His photos were published in books, annual reports, newspapers, advertisements and brochures, and appeared in Business Week, Better Homes & Gardens, Outside Magazine, Reader’s Digest, Sailing World, and Sailing Magazine as well. His stunning photographs of the natural world were shown in many galleries in the Columbus area. Jeff had an extraordinary sense of adventure and an even more extraordinary sense of humor. In his earlier years Jeff raced dirt-bikes, sailboats and iceboats, and built his own iceboats. He earned a glider’s pilot license and, along with a core group of friends, explored many wild caves in Kentucky and West Virginia. Their caving exploits were recorded by adventure writer Tim Cahill in Outside Magazine in 1978. The same friends joined Jeff on many trips to national parks in the West and on many adventures, some of questionable judgment but great hilarity, in and around Ohio. He will be remembered by his many, many friends for his generosity, kindness, insatiable curiosity, inventiveness, irrepressible spirit and interesting views on spirituality and his place in the universe. He was a long-time member of the C.G. Jung Association of Central Ohio and of the Hoover Sailing Club. He was preceded in death by his parents Helen Lehew Thompson and Robert Thompson and his younger brother Ric Thompson. He is survived by his wife Susan, children Brad and Sara, step-daughters Caitlin Fischer (Grant Thompson) and Caroline (Dan) Kazakis, brother and sister-in-law John and Virginia Thompson, nephew Sean Thompson, niece Cher (Ricky) Jackson, brothers-in-law Patrick (Jonna) Kelly and Daniel Kelly (Cheryl Forbes), and mother-in-law Betsy Kelly. Also surviving are long-time loyal friends and fellow adventurers Jon Luzio, Sean Ahern, Mike Davis and Bill Swanson, along with many friends, both long-standing and recent, who remained faithful throughout his illness and lent support to the family: Anthony and Karen Paneth, Brent and Linda Turner, Robin Lawrie, Jeff Clark, Craig LaRobardier, Patrice Rancour, Lynn Bird and Dave Bernon, Jim Arter, Marshall Smith and Len Sternberg, John and Lisa Hoffman and members of the U.S. Bankruptcy Court family, Judy Bambace, Brian Trotier, Loleen Klueger and The Babes. The family expresses its gratitude to the staff of Odyssey Hospice, and to Drs. William Hicks, John Grecula, Mark Bechtel and Enver Ozer and their staffs for their care and many kindnesses. The family will receive friends at Schoedinger Northeast Chapel, 1051 East Johnstown Road, Gahanna, from 2 to 4pm, Saturday June 4, 2011, where a brief memorial service will be held at 4:15pm Memorial contributions may be made to the National Park Foundation, 1201 Eye Street, NW, Suite 550B, Washington, D.C 20005; www.nationalparks.org/donate. Please visit www.schoedinger.com to send condolences and share memories.