Thomas A. Saunders III

Thomas Alonza Saunders III, 86, died peacefully in his home in Palm Beach on September 9, 2022. Tom was a Wall Street innovator, nationally recognized conservative leader, philanthropist, husband, father, grandfather, Virginian and proud American patriot.

He was born on June 1, 1936, in Ivor, a tiny town of 300 people in southeastern Virginia, to Thomas A. Saunders, Jr. and Ruth Lee Claud Saunders. Tom graduated from Maury High School and Virginia Military Institute, where he was a maverick from the get-go. Brother Rats can attest to the record number of penalty tours Tom walked for the high-spirited and clever pranks he pulled in college. VMI instilled in Tom a deep sense of honor, duty, and discipline. Each day he passed the words of Stonewall Jackson etched in stone, “You may be whatever you resolve to be.” Tom had more resolve than most, and what he became was extraordinary.

After Tom graduated with his Bachelor of Science in electrical engineering from VMI in 1958, he served in the United States Army and then started his professional career in Allis-Chalmers’ Space and Defense Sciences where he researched, helped develop, and marketed fuel cells for NASA’s Apollo program and the Air Force’s manned orbital laboratory. A scholarship to business school changed the course of his life, and after receiving an MBA from the University of Virginia in 1967, the young man with the thick tidewater accent moved to New York and began a storied career at Morgan Stanley. By 1971, as a statistician, he was entrusted with keeping the records of Morgan Stanley, a firm so young, Tom kept track of its $8 million capital position on a yellow legal pad.

By 1974, Tom had become a Partner and Managing Director of Morgan Stanley during a golden era on the Street. He was a leader whose legacy and innovation are still evident in today’s equity markets. As head of Morgan Stanley’s Syndicate Desk for over ten years, he ran the biggest equity financings of the day for clients like AT&T, GE, IBM, DuPont, Exxon, General Motors, and Apple. Tom pioneered techniques still in use, like applying the Green Shoe provision to big IPOs to meet high demand without putting additional capital at risk. He was equally innovative in his use of the Rule 415 shelf registration to streamline offerings. Tom was the first to use simultaneous offerings which permitted concurrent investment participation in the world’s biggest stock exchanges. Following the breakup of the Bell System in 1982, Tom led the advisory team that determined how AT&T spun off its local telephone services into the seven regional bell operating companies. He also led the privatizations of British Telecommunications and British Petroleum for the Thatcher Government in 1983, and in 1985, he played a key role in the US Government’s privatization of Conrail.

Tom’s colleagues and friends loved his good humor and southern charm and knew him as a genius parallel processor with iron will and unmatched work ethic and discipline. Capitalizing on years of deep relationships with pension, corporate and sovereign wealth funds, Tom served as Chairman and raised Morgan Stanley’s $2.2 billion leveraged buyout fund. Tom later started his own successful private equity business, Saunders Karp & Megrue, which invested in some of the nation’s most successful companies including Dollar Tree Inc., where he served as Lead Director and on the Board for nearly three decades. For the past twenty years, he has been CEO of Ivor & Co., LLC, a private family investment firm.

Tom felt enormous pride in the resolve of his ancestors, those original risk-taking settlers who ventured to carve out the Virginia Colony and laid down the predicate for a subsequent generation of Founders who gave this nation the liberties and freedoms enshrined in the Constitution. Tom made the most of his place on the continuum of the “American Experiment” and was committed to protecting what his forebearers built—the greatest nation on earth.

Tom’s devotion to America’s lineage led him to membership in the Society of Colonial Wars, The Mayflower Society, Order of the First Families of Virginia, The Huguenot Society of America, and on the Steering Committee for the 400th Commemoration of Jamestown.

In 2008, President George W. Bush named Tom and his wife, Jordan, the first joint-recipients of the National Humanities Medal for their extensive non-profit service and philanthropy in the realms of public policy, higher education, historic preservation, and the arts.

He served as Chairman of the Heritage Foundation, the country’s leading conservative think tank, and in 2018 he was awarded the institution’s highest honor, the Clare Boothe Luce Award. During his Chairmanship, Tom was instrumental in the formation of the conservative policy advocacy group, Heritage Action for America. Tom was a member of VMI’s Board of Visitors, where he was awarded its Distinguished Service Award, and on the Board of the Marine Corps University Foundation, where he was named the 2008 recipient of its Major General John H. Russell Leadership Award.

Tom made transformative contributions to the University of Virginia across the College of Arts and Sciences, Darden Business School, Nursing School, and Jefferson Scholars. Tom served as Chairman of Darden and donated the lead gift for Saunders Hall, the main building of Darden’s grounds. While serving on the University’s Board of Visitors, Tom spearheaded the effort to move the management of the University’s endowment away from the Commonwealth of Virginia’s political appointees and funding restrictions by creating and serving as board member of the independent, self-appointing University of Virginia Investment Management Company (UVIMCO). Tom’s push for “privatization” of Darden and UVIMCO was hugely unpopular at the time, but ultimately his gift for persuasiveness prevailed.

He also served as Chairman of the Thomas Jefferson Foundation. In 2004, Tom’s speedy negotiation and equity facilitated the purchase of Montalto, the mountain adjacent to Monticello, and permanently spared this important vista from future development. Tom was a founding donor in the effort to preserve and digitize the retirement papers of Thomas Jefferson, and he gave the Saunders Bridge and Saunders-Monticello Trail which are broadly enjoyed by the community. He served on and led many boards including Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, the American Civil War Museum, the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Old Westbury Gardens, and the New-York Historical Society, where he received the 2007 History-Makers Award.

Tom was a member of the National Gallery of Art Trustees Council, on the board of the Norton Museum of Art, and had an abiding passion for art and keen eye for collecting. He has loaned The Saunders Collection, an exceptional group of European Old Master paintings to museums around the world including: The Prado, Mauritshuis in the Hague, The National Gallery of Ireland, Musee Jacquemart Andre in Paris, The National Gallery of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art and Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Many of the works are currently on long-term loan at The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts.

Tom’s curiosity was insatiable. From the infinite cosmos to the infinitesimal double helix to bird and plant species, he loved learning about everything. Whether he was talking to Margaret Thatcher or an acquaintance, Tom had a gift of connecting with people. He was a Renaissance man- a passionate runner, biker, skilled sailor, serious hiker, renowned tennis player at the Rockaway Hunt Club, world traveler, art collector, self-taught ornithologist, and a witty and clever dinner companion. Life with Tom was never dull.

He was devoted to and fiercely loved his family. He is survived by his perfect life partner and wife of 61 years, Jordan Saunders of Palm Beach, his daughter Mariah Calvert Claud Saunders Moore and son-in-law George Braniff Moore of New York and their three children: Rebecca Carter Saunders Moore, George Saunders Van Rensselaer Moore and Mary Schuyler Jordan Moore, and he is also survived by his son Thomas A. Saunders IV and grandson Thomas A. Saunders V of Los Angeles.

Tom Saunders stayed in the harness until the last row was ploughed. He lived fully and well. He kept us laughing. His integrity, tenacity, and generosity will echo for generations in the memories of all who loved him.

Godspeed Tom Saunders.

In lieu of flowers, memorial gifts may be made to the Thomas A. Saunders III Family Jefferson Scholars Foundation Distinguished University Professorships at the University of Virginia https://community.jeffersonscholars.org/make-a-gift or to the General J.H. Binford Peay III 1962 Academic Excellence Endowment at the Virginia Military Institute. https://www.vmialumni.org/saunders. A memorial service will be held at a future date.