Thomas J. Quigley, 83, Was Lawyer, Army Pilot

Thomas J. Quigley, former chairman of the National Symphony Association, former managing partner of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, and a pilot in the Army Air Corps in World War II, died at his home in Potomac, Md. on Sunday of gastric cancer. He was 83.

Mr. Quigley served in China at the age of 21 in 1944 and 1945, flying 233 missions, many of them in support of General Joseph Stilwell's effort to reopen the Burma Road. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and the Air Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster.

For several years, he was vice president of the Musical Arts Association, parent of the Cleveland Orchestra, and served on the search committee that brought Christoph Von Dohnanyi to Cleveland. After moving to Washington, he joined the board of the National Symphony Orchestra Association and served as its chairman from 1992 to 1995. During that time, he chaired the search committee that brought Leonard Slatkin to Washington.

He was born in Mount Carmel, Pa., on July 22, 1923. After World War II, he graduated from Bucknell University, where he received a bachelor's degree cum laude in 1947 and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

In 1950, he graduated from Yale Law School and joined the Cleveland, Ohio office of Squire, Sanders & Dempsey, an international law firm. He chaired its labor department for nine years. While he chaired the department, the number of labor lawyers increased from seven to 32.

In 1980, he moved to Potomac, Md. to manage the firm's Washington office. In 1985, he was elected managing partner of the 750-lawyer firm, with 12 offices in the United States and 13 abroad. He spent his entire professional career at the firm, from 1950 to 1993, when he retired.

For his legal services to Belgium, he was awarded Belgian's Order of the Crown.

During his career, he served on the boards of several Cleveland corporations, including Centran Corp. and Central National Bank, as well as on the board of trustees of Cleveland Tomorrow. He was a long-time member of the board of Laurel School in Shaker Heights, Ohio.

Mr. Quigley, who also owned a home in Edgartown, was a former member of the Union Club and the Kirtland Country Club in Cleveland and a member of the Chevy Chase Club, the Metropolitan Club of Washington, D.C., the Edgartown Yacht Club, the Edgartown Reading Room and the Yale Club of New York.

Survivors include his wife of 50 years, Joan; three children, Tom Jr. of Hopewell, N.J., Joan of Kensington, Md., and James of Washington, D.C.; a brother, Jim, of Bethesda, Md.; and three grandchildren.

Contributions in his memory may be made to the National Symphony Orchestra or the Musical Arts Association.