Surrounded by his loving family, Thomas Beavers Sander, passed away peacefully at the age of 75 on Saturday July 29, 2017 after a courageous battle against lung cancer and ALS.  Tom was born on January 6, 1942 in Hillsboro, Texas to parents Nell Ruth (Cain) Beavers and Thomas Claude Beavers.  He was adopted at the age of eleven by his aunt Marjorie and her husband Willie Fred (Deeda) Sander, who lived in Hearne, Texas.

Although not his biological father, many of Deeda's traits were passed to Tom, such as integrity, honesty, work ethics, a deep sense of caring, and love to his family and country.  Unique to Tom's own personality were his dry sense of humor, his uncompromising loyalty, and his ability to get only one word into an emotional speech before getting teary-eyed.

Tom grew up and lived in Texas until he joined the United States Navy in San Diego, where he learned computer programming on IBM mainframes which would serve as the foundation for his career.  After 4 years in the Navy, he was hired by IBM as a software engineer.  Tom briefly returned to Texas to complete his B.A. in Business at Texas Christian University, and later returned to IBM in Palo Alto. He later joined IBM in San Francisco.  In 1981, Tom took an international assignment with IBM in Germany, where he met his wife-to-be, Gerda, and her young son, David.  In 1986, after Tom's international assignments ended, the newly formed family moved from the United Kingdom to the United States and settled in Saratoga, California.

Tom loved living life, and was a model husband and father.  He enjoyed traveling, rock and roll, fine wine (especially prosecco), Southern and Italian cooking, fast cars, friends, and most of all, family.  Tom is survived by his wife of 32 years, Gerda, his son David (with wife Christie), sister Nansi (with husband Larry), many nieces and nephews, and countless friends.  Tom was preceded in death by both his biological and adoptive parents.   In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you donate to the ALS association at ALSA.org.