Thomas Dalton

Tom Dalton of Little Rock and Hot Springs, Ark., passed away peacefully in the very early hours on Tuesday, June 12, 2018 after a brave battle with cancer. Tom’s leadership abilities, business acumen, and his compassion for people and the non-profit organizations that serve them were guidestones in Tom’s accomplished life; while his love for family made him a treasured “Da” to his six grandchildren.

A notable executive and entrepreneur, Tom’s business life spanned more than 50 years of success in healthcare, education, technology, and government. A native of Cortland, New York, Tom was recruited to Central Arkansas when he accepted the job of Little Rock’s City Manager, serving our city well from 1986 to 1992. Prior to coming to Little Rock, Tom had distinguished himself as a City Manager for two other communities, Saginaw, Michigan and Oberlin, Ohio.

Directly after graduating from high school, Tom served in the army, stationed in Korea for three years. However, it was after college, upon joining the Peace Corp, when he truly developed his servant’s heart. That heart was put to work during Tom’s tenure during the 1990s as Director at the Arkansas Department of Human Services, where he oversaw the management of the Arkansas Medicaid program and nine operational divisions dealing with the health and human service needs of families, children, and senior citizens. There, he assisted in the development and implementation of the much touted ARKids First program throughout the state, dramatically increasing the number of children eligible for healthcare services through Medicaid funding.

In the last two decades of his life, Tom managed his own consultancy firm, Dalton and Associates, and worked for almost 10 years as Program Director at Winrock International. While with Winrock, Tom led product development teams and connected Winrock to meaningful state and federal contracts that helped this global organization further its mission.

Tom was especially inspired by his work on the Winrock contract with the Arkansas Economic Development Commission’s Innovate Arkansas program. Tom’s entrepreneurial spirit and his desire to provide meaningful mentorship helped enable approximately 100 companies and their owners raise investment funding, grow their organizations and create meaningful new, high-paying jobs for Arkansas. His work with start-up companies across Arkansas was instrumental in laying a strong foundation for Arkansas’s start-up eco-culture.

Tom loved public service, volunteering as a Board Member for numerous Arkansas organizations, among them the CARTI Cancer Center, BioVentures/UAMS, Little Rock Downtown Partnership, and the United Way,

Tom also loved his life with wife Diane on the lake, hiking the many trails in Hot Springs. He was known by those who loved him most as a highly ethical man with a strong commitment to his passions and relationships.

Tom is survived by his wife Diane; his sister, Kathleen Dalton; two daughters, Meghan Dalton and Lael Dalton Sweeney and her husband Matt Sweeney; son, Steve Carlisle and six grandchildren, Max Dalton, Rachel Sweeney, Jackson Sweeney, Jordan Carlisle, Corbin Carlisle Foster, and Cayman Carlisle. He is preceded in death by his parents, Thomas Henry Dalton and Anne Catherine Schedlar Dalton and his brother, John Dalton.

His family and friends will honor his memory in the coming weeks with a celebration of life at an Irish wake. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to The Arkansas Sheriffs’ Youth Ranches at https://www.youthranches.com to support Tom’s passion for helping underprivileged children.