Thomas Francis Neagle Iv

Thomas Francis Neagle IV (Tom) was born on Sunday, January 23, 1949, to Paul Eugene Neagle and Mary Claire (Hirons) Neagle in St. Louis, MO.  He was the oldest of seven siblings and grew up in the San Francisco Bay area.  At 17 years old, Tom left the Bay area to attend Yale College where he majored in math and economics.  He graduated magna cum laude in 1970.  Tom went on to earn an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1972.  Upon receiving his degree, Tom moved to St. Louis, MO where he met and married Sherian Kaye (Shaeffer) Neagle (Sheri).   Tom and Sheri had two children, Gwynneth Annick Neagle and Thomas Francis Neagle V.   Throughout his career in finance, Tom worked for Citicorp, consulted with BEI Golembe/EDS/AT Kearney, and ended his career in global finance with Bank of America.  Tom was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins lymphoma in January 2024 and passed away on Friday, August 23, 2024 surrounded by his wife and children.

Shortly after graduating from Harvard Business School and moving to St. Louis, MO, Tom felt a restlessness in his soul about his life.  He began attending Central Presbyterian Church in Clayton, MO where he came to know and trust in Jesus Christ as his Savior on January 22, 1973.  This began the greatest love affair of Tom’s life.  He knew the depth of his need for salvation and found justification, purest joy, peace, and life in Jesus.  Tom spent the rest of his life telling anyone who would listen about the amazing truth that though all of us as humans are sinners, Jesus’ death and resurrection paid the penalty for our sin and provided a way for us to have life with Him and God the Father forever.  Because of the depth of Jesus’ love in his life, Tom lived to extend the Kingdom of God.  Tom participated in Bible Study Fellowship as a participant, core group leader, and substitute teaching leader for many years.  He often taught Sunday School to grade school children as well as to adults at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Desert Springs in Phoenix, Carmel Baptist in Charlotte, and Christ Ridge in Fort Mill.  He volunteered to tutor students struggling with reading, writing, or arithmetic so he could show the love of Jesus.  Tom also served as a deacon at Central Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Desert Springs Church in Phoenix, and as an elder at Celebration Fellowship in Bolingbrook, IL and Christ Ridge PCA in Fort Mill, SC.

The second great love of Tom’s life was his wife, Sheri.  They first met when Sheri was sent to Tom’s church to help with Evangelism Explosion in 1974 and for a second time at a lay renewal between their two churches in Hannibal, MO in 1975.  Tom was smitten and began pursuing Sheri with weekly lunch dates that soon moved to dinner dates.  An engagement followed on March 20, 1976, and they were married on August 28, 1976.  Tom loved Sheri with his whole heart, working to provide for her and their children.  They attended the symphony and repertory theater together for date nights as well as celebrating their engagement and wedding anniversaries every year.  They traveled well together, taking a trip to Europe in 1978 and across the USA in 2015.  As a family, they loved to see the world.

Tom’s third great love was his children.  Tom was an excellent father, always taking the opportunity to support his children.  He showed up at as many of their athletic competitions and school functions as possible, even with a busy travel schedule for his job.  He invented games to play with his children and helped them enlarge their imaginations.  He told them stories, read to them every night before bed when they were young, coached their little league teams, and was an honorary “Brownie Helper Mom” on occasion.  Tom was very proud of their accomplishments, attending his son’s football games and baseball games through his son’s college career.  Tom and his son took yearly trips, christened “Boys’ Weekend”, to watch the Yale-Princeton game, Yale-Harvard game, a Knox college game, and last year to watch LSU-Alabama.  Tom looked forward to these weekends and always came back with inside jokes with his son.  Tom also loved talking with his daughter every day to hear about her day and share what was going in his world.  Whenever he and Sheri visited their daughter in Colorado, Tom loved going hiking with his daughter.   He loved his children well.

Tom Neagle IV was a man who loved God and His church, loved his wife and children, and sought to live out the gospel every day.