It was at a fabulous Sundance conference in Beijing when we were all invited to walk on the Great Wall of China . Tom arrived with a thermos of screwdrivers to share with all of us when we all reached the top of the wall. 

He sweetly held my hand as we walked a plank over a stream to an entrance to the wall  and I felt my anxiety rise. 

He passed me off to  two others to help me up the crumbling stairs on the Great Wall so he could run ahead —-and as I slipped and fell my panic increased  to tears. The two took me down from  the wall to the entrance where I sat and cried until one by one everyone in the conference stumbled off the wall and joined me. Everyone except, of course, Tom and six month pregnant Trish  Coen who reached the top of the Great Wall of China  with screwdrivers and baby intact. 

That was Tom —- climbing quickly into places where everyone else feared to climb 

And laughing all the way 

Chris and I were shocked and saddened by Tom’s death. We will miss him terribly —-he was such an important part of lives —he was for  the independent film makers. 

I met Tom in 1999 during one of the best, most exciting, and challenging phases of my professional life in retrospect, and I worked closely with him for several years thereafter. I liked Tom instantly, and over time and to some extent, he also influenced me and my perspective on things. There was no problem that Tom couldn’t solve or, at the very least, didn’t have a solution for - or in the few cases where he didn’t, he would at least try. He always showed confidence, mobilized all available resources, and invested all his energy. He had a very strong identification with his clients - undoubtedly a key to his great success. In his vivid language, he once explained to me that we were “the type of guys who would run up the hill with blazing guns!” Including me in that picture was very generous and flattering in my early thirties - but I could never have run up that hill as quickly and skillfully as he could! His reputation was strong, and sometimes just the mention of his name on “our side” was enough to resolve problems. I’ve already read some of his humorous mantras in other contributions here, and my favorite, which I still quote to this day, was always: “Don’t show the gorilla the banana.”

On September 11, 2001, when the World Trade Center was in flames, Tom was in our office, and we stood together, staring in disbelief at the television - he was devastated and spent the rest of the day on the phone trying to reach friends and acquaintances whom he knew worked in the towers.

2001 was also a difficult year for me professionally, and he accompanied the company I worked for through to the bitter end. When you’re professionally facing the ruins of something, it often becomes lonely - but Tom promptly sent an invitation to his AFM reception with a few personal, encouraging lines. When I read in so many posts how he maintained friendships, I can only confirm that.

Tom, we haven’t seen each other in recent years, but I will never forget the chapter we shared. Farewell, my friend.

I was shocked to learn of Tom’s death, though I knew he had been unwell for some time.

Thomas FR Garvin, his letters always closed. What was the ‘R’ for?  

I first met Tom back in the mid 80’s. He was unparalleled for his ability to give ‘off the cuff’ legal advice. I have memories of calling him, while in LA, from public phone boxes. No pondering and answering a question for Tom. ‘There are 4 points to bear in mind’ he would say before rattling off a 3 page memo, word perfect, while I scribbled furiously. And inevitably he was right. The problem was  - and I hope people will forgive me for saying so - woe betide you if he was acting for you and you couldn’t find him.  Man, he could disappear for weeks. If you told me he worked part time for the FBI, I could have believed it. 

As a friend though, he was always popping up at the unlikeliest of moments, ready to go for dinner, then keen to find somewhere interesting to visit.

Tom was unbelievably generous. In spirit too. He was a very kind and considerate man. Shy and sensitive too but I think he liked to hide that.

Tom excelled as tour guide. He was always persuading me to join him somewhere on a Panel, with the added incentive of making it clear he would find us a couple of hours to go missing and he always seemed to know which museum - and which room - to visit. He liked to pride himself on knowing London better than any local and I suspect he felt the same about most cities.

They don’t make them like Tom any more. 

Ann, I am very sorry for your loss. But hope to see you in London as part of Tom’s farewell tour.

Tom, I will miss your smile and your laugh.

God bless you, 

Andrew 

I was lucky to have met Tom early on in my career and was blessed to have him on my side since.

Apart from the ‘bon vivant’ which he clearly was, he was foremost a warm and generous person who outsmarted most and had to admirable ability to convince parties on the opposite side to go with his suggested solutions. More importantly, over the more than three decades that I have known him he became a true friend. He was instrumental in establishing the business of Robbert Aarts and myself as a stand alone private company. Over the years we worked on some very ambitious deals; think big was something was natural to Tom. Also if things did not materialize he would take it as a man and move on. Our many dinners in Amsterdam, LA, Cannes and elsewhere where always at carefully selected restaurants, mostly Asian, with the best wines and best conversations. Tom would always be a perfect host and especially when I visited LA alone or with my family in LA he would take us to the Hollywood Bowl or a Lakers game, he had his way to get the very best seats in the house!

A bit later on we also got to know Ann, who was the love of his life which he always was very outspoken about and in the many deep personal conversations we had that was abundantly clear.

As Tom had travelled almost anywhere in the world, he was the perfect tour guide with tips for hotels and things to do ( and not to do…) anywhere you go, from Africa, Asia, India and Bhutan, which I gladly used and never was a miss.

When I would travel to LA on a regular basis, the dinner at my day of arrival would usually be with Tom at Typhoon at Santa Monica airport. We would go over my meetings and I would get the latest to have the most effective meetings. The many expressions he used where exemplatory for his ability to make complex matters simple, “ Jake, it’s Chinatown” or “don’t let the camel put it’s nose under the tent……..” and many, many more.

One story, which was also very much Tom, is that he asked me to be on a lawyers panel which he chaired in Cannes. I gladly accepted. Just three minutes before it should start he called me and said: “ sorry, I am running a bit late, so why don’t you just start with the introductions. I’ll be there shortly !” I did not know anyone on the panel and Tom eventually showed up towards the end of the session thanking everybody for their presence congratulating on gaining the educational credits they needed…

The last years after some physical issues which he had to go through, things changed in that there was less travel but the wit, the intelligent and pleasant conversations when we met in LA remained as did the calls from him on my birthday and New Years.

Tom, I miss you, your unwavered energy and friendship. Larger than life, that is how I will remember you and keep you in my heart

Oh Tom, where art thou?

You were a movie buff, or  a cinephile? A bunch of us were members of the unique group called" Hollywood Merchants" , we were to cast our ballots for the Oscar winners of the year. The winner would get a very unique cup for the year, then it would be passed on to the next winner. Tom managed to win this cup - I don't remember how many times,  over, I don't remember how many years. He always sent in his ballot at the last minute, so, Ann, you can tell us now: What was the secret? 

The news about Tom's passing filled me with great sadness and grief, having known him for almost 30 years . He would never forget my birthday, stood by me in difficult legal and private situations. A true and loyal friend, an incredible host, and one of the most generous people with the biggest heart. Professionally, we called him a " Wadenbeisser" ( admiringly) , the Germans would know what I mean.

Tom, wherever they sent you off to, I hope they will serve you a great bottle of wine and an extra big slice of Foie Gras.

And Ann, you were the Rocket Scientist in the family ,  he admired you greatly .

There are no words to express my sympathy and deepest condolences. I hope, with time, you will find peace and move on. I will be there for you, anything and always. Just whistle. You know what they say: behind every great man there is an even greater woman.

We should celebrate his life with the memories and stories he would enjoy, not the sadness around his death but the delight we took in knowing him.

Tom, RIP, and I'm sure you will cause a ruckus , wherever you are!

Hilla

I have lots of Tom stories but the time that sticks in my mind was when he took me to Munich to help him review the finances of a prominent film distribution company.  It soon became apparent that the company was on a collision course with a wall.  Tom said to me it was obvious to him before my analysis.  His quote "Never trust a CFO who lists his occupation as "Professor of Economics".  ". 

He was right as usual! 

I already miss him.

Tom was one of the most intelligent people I've ever met and I consider him a good friend.  My condolences to Ann and all of his friends and family.  He will be remembered fondly and much missed.

The year was 1976. I was sitting in our college gym at LMU. In a half an hour, the concert was going to start, the band was going to go on. That band was Fleetwood Mac whose new album had just blown up. They were the number one music act in the world. 

I was in a daze. How the hell did our little backwater college get this monster band to play here? And then I saw the guy walking around the stage pointing and giving instructions to people. The boss. The student who had managed to organize this whole  massive affair. The guy who was barely old enough to drink but gifted enough to move whatever mountains were in his way. My friend, old debate partner and fellow classmate, Tom Garvin. This is what he was doing with his undergraduate life. What the hell was I doing?

It wouldn't be the last time I felt his long shadow. Tom, as others have pointed out, was unique. Incredibly smart, verbally adept and oh, so confident. Like the kind of confidence that could make you feel the glow of possibility. Or, alternatively, the puniness of your feeble ideas. 

But I loved all of those qualities. And most especially his generosity. It was so big. And so freely given. A shared meal. A night out. A laugh. A story. His life was a myth in the making. And I felt privileged to be part of it. 

What a sad day it was when we heard about Tom’s passing.

Tom was our lawyer (and friend) for over 20 years at Fintage House. If Tom was involved in legal matters concerning us here at Fintage, we always knew we were in good hands. An often-heard statement in the office was that “if they find you in the gutter, the first thing you better immediately do is call Tom to save you”.

I cherish the memories of the dinners we had with Tom in Cannes and anywhere else around the world, and the talks I have had with Tom over the years. I recall that once, when I spoke with him at an irregular time, he told me that there was no time to waste and that there was no time to sleep, but that was no problem, because we would have time enough to sleep in the afterlife. Very sadly that moment in time has come way too early for him. Sleep peacefully Tom!

When I moved to Los Angeles in 2001, Tom drove me around LA looking for a place to live. Not something an ordinary lawyer provides as a service, but that’s how Tom was – unconventional, generous and always above and beyond. I finally moved into a place where I stayed for the next 7 years, right next to his and Ann’s residence. Easy to walk to Tom’s annual AFM party or to meet for dinner in the neighborhood.

Above and beyond also meant that you got his solicited and unsolicited advice whenever you asked him something. Going somewhere? Europe, Asia, Africa or South America? Ask Tom, he would not only recommend a great hotel to stay at but would also send you your travel agenda for an entire trip the next day. To this day, I suspect that the Garvin law firm was an undercover travel agency.

Travel well, old companion!

Tom and my paths first crossed in the late nineties when we worked on several deals together. He was a smart lawyer and formidable counterparty; you had to have your wits about you. But outside the cut and thrust of a legal transaction he also became a good friend and we spent many happy dinners together. However hard I tried the balance of hospitality always fell to him - I have lost count of the times that he entertained me, expecting nothing in return.

I remember with affection the weekend of a birthday party I held in Spain. The evening before the party he found a local Michelin star restaurant and entertained a dozen or so of my friends (some of whom he had only met that day). On the day of the party he gallantly stepped in to extinguish one of my friend’s vintage dress which had brushed against a garden flare.

I will remember Tom fondly and raise a glass to his memory - a fun and loyal friend gone far too soon.

Tom was truly one of a kind.

I remember a large group dinner, maybe 10 to 12 people. As a social ice breaker, I asked everyone around the table to say what their childhood nickname was and why. When it came round to Tom, we learned that his nickname was “Crash” from when he played football.

“Crash” Garvin. What an apt nickname.

Tom crashed through life. He took life in large strides, by storm.

He was a vast resource of knowledge and experience with a ready encyclopedic explanation for any question put to him, a veritable human chat GPT of the pre digital era covering wide ranges of topics large and small from global geopolitical developments to international flight connection schedules.

One year at Cannes, Tom and I were working on a transaction, and he kindly invited me to dinner on my last night before returning home.

We went to some spot in back of the Carlton Hotel and towards the end of the dessert course, he reached into his coat pocket and slowly slid a folded piece of paper across the table and said,

“This is for you.”

I said, “What’s that?”

He replied in his polite and slightly deadpan way, which most times denoted some kind of mischief,

“I need you to stay in Cannes one more day for this deal, so I have changed your flight schedule back to Los Angeles to the following day.”

This was the early 2000’s.  I had no idea that someone could actually do that!

But Tom knew.

When I got back to my room, I phoned my wife Jenn to let her know that I was not coming home the next day and she told me “Well that explains why someone had delivered a bouquet of white roses and a case of wine to the house today,” including an apologetic note from Tom for keeping me one more day.

She also said, “take as much time as you like”, but that’s another matter.

That was Tom. He was simply the best and a great and true friend.

For those of us who knew him and loved him, we are all diminished.

If there could possibly be a silver lining, it’s that he will most certainly already have the next place fully wired for us and will be there to greet us with his warm laugh and broad smile.

Tom will be remembered fondly for his extensive efforts to meet the cocktail hour and beyond, wherever he happened to be in the world. His favourite saying was “It’s always 6 o’clock somewhere”. As an example, during a Sundance trip to Beijing, he insisted we haul backpacks full of chilled champagne and orange juice onto the Great Wall of China so that at the appropriate time he could serve Mimosas while astonished Chinese tourists looked on. In Cannes, he was always reluctant to leave a restaurant until its entire supply of high-end Sancerre had been consumed by his guests and in Queenstown, New Zealand, delegates at a law conference cleaned out an entire cellar at his instigation. We often travelled in a gang putatively named Hollywood Safaris. We landed on the lawn of Shiwa Ngandu, a stately home far into the Zambian bush. Tom as usual had boarded several cases of wine which he began to offload. Our hosts were horrified : “But we have plenty of wine and your stay is all-inclusive”. Tom replied; “Maybe, but I’m afraid that does not mean there’s enough” as another case descended onto the pristine grass.

I first met Tom through his good freind ( and mine ) Robbert Aarts when I moved to LA from Sydney. About 25 years ago. I was new in town and was still practicing law between continents and then he showed up as the lawyer on the other side of me on a transaction.  He was a formidable lawyer. Smart as a whip. Quick witted and really knew how to navigate tough waters.  He was confident and quite intimidating! If you were up against Tom Garvin you had to be ready to do battle.  He liked to win.  But he also liked to party ! and enjoyed the important things in life. Good wine, food and conversation. His AFM Soiree was always the first Saturday night and the international  crowd attended because Tom had a lot of foreign  clients from Germany and the Uk , Netherlands and all over Europe.   It was always a highlight! We all looked forward to it every year!  Tom was a unique individual with many talents and was also a generous and caring freind to many. He is much missed. RIP dear Tom. 

Tom'a parties in Marina del Rey are legendary.  Great food , fine wine, an array of interesting folk from several continents with Tom the true host buzzing around like a beautiful bee. Tom was a man of great taste and a wonderful listener. A true gentleman. Thank you for yiur warmth and generosity. R.I.P. Tom Garvin

Originally we developed a cordial relationship where Tom helped me and my partner Niels Teves to establish ourselves during the Management Buy Out of Fintage House. Tom was not your regular lawyer. No, he was much more than that. He helped us to buy our business and gave us solicited (and unsolicited) advice. Tom was extremely confident and smart. He helped me very much to becoming an enterpreneur. He spent months in Europe; travelling between London, Munich and Amsterdam, at the same time working on multiple ventures. He loved his business life but was also very much interested in building personal relationships with friends around the world. I felt very special being included in the ‘storms’ that Tom created. I learned from the best!

In the dutch language we have the expression that someone is a Burgundian. It means that you thoroughly embrace life, that someone appreciates the finer things in life and to get the maximum out of it. This exuberance characterized Tom. He had an holistic approach to life, where working crazy hours was no problem but enjoying camaraderie was at least as important.

I had many epic dinners with Tom over the years. Our guilty pleasure was Asian food, accompanied by white wine. This was a global effort: from LA, London, Amsterdam, Sydney, Park City, Munich, Brussels, Bangkok, Toronto, Berlin, Cannes, Las Vegas to many other places.

Tom was an extremely generous person and never asked for anything in return. Tom flew from LA to Amsterdam for just 1 day to attend the funeral of our son Alexander, who died in 2009. This is how he was.

Whenever I brought my family to LA, Tom and Ann would host us at the Hollywood Bowl; often sitting at the ‘pool area’ very close to the podium. Tom (and Ann’s) hospitality had no limits.

In LA we hung out at Tom and Ann’s house, watching Election, the Oscars, Golden Globes and the 3 of us would have many dinners at Chinois and Capo; actually until a few weeks before he died.

What a guy. Tom was a truly unique person and I am truly honored to have been so close to him. Miss you my friend.