Thomas Willoughby

THOMAS H. WILLOUGHBY
1935 - 2023
Dog fancier, travel photographer. legislative consultant and governmental relations advisor -- Sacramento lost all this when Tom Willoughby passed away peacefully on October 28.
Tom was born in 1935 in Chicago to Mildred and Basil Willoughby. The family moved to Sacramento during World War II so his father could work at Mather Field on military bomb sights.   Tom went to parochial schools in Sacramento and San Francisco before attending Sacramento State College (now CSUS) and was in one of the first classes to graduate from the new College.  At Sac State he had great professors that inspired him to get involved in governmental affairs and he started by becoming the school's student body president.
After receiving his bachelors and masters degrees he enrolled in the Claremont Graduate School working toward a PH.D with the goal of teaching at the university level.  After one  year of post graduate work, he received a Ford Foundation grant to work with the California  Legislature.  After this grant year he decided that rather than teaching how laws were made, he would prefer to be involved in making those laws.   This began a 23 year stint  as the chief consultant for first the  Local Government Committee and later for the Energy and Natural Resources Committee of the California State Assembly.  During this time was also appointed by Governor Jerry Brown to serve as the public member on the Commission on Judicial Performance.  His last working years were spent as the chief legislative consultant for PG&E participating in the development of corporate policy  and drafting legislation relating to those policies.
In 1961 he married Susan Edwards and together they devoted time to raising and showing Doberman Pinschers.  Upon Tom's retirement in 1997 they took up international traveling where Tom honed his skill as a photographer.  India, Italy, Southeast Asia and East Africa were favorite locations.  
Tom was predeceased in death by his parents and his brother Dan.  A celebration of his life will be scheduled at a later date.