Thomas Steinbeck died on August 11 after 72 years of art, adventure, and love. Thom was born in New York City to Gwyndolyn and John Steinbeck on August 2, 1944. His mother encouraged an awareness of artistic expression; his father helped him develop an appreciation for language, literature, and the human experience; and his younger brother, Johnny, made sure he had a lot of fun.
As a young man, Thom’s studies at Chouinard Art Institute and UCLA film school were cut short by the Vietnam War. Arriving in Vietnam on the second day of the Tet Offensive, Thom was assigned to serve as a helicopter door-gunner and later reassigned to his original posting as a television production specialist for American Forces Vietnam Network. After his service, he returned to Southeast Asia as a journalist and photographer. Like most veterans, his war experience left long-lasting and deep scars, but his new life as a writer and raconteur had begun.
When he returned to the U.S., Thom studied at the Naropa Institute with its founder, Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche, who told him he was already an enlightened soul, that everything he was teaching him he already knew. Recounting this to his dear friend Diana Raab over a tequila and soda at Pierre Lafond, Thom credited Buddhism for changing his life, saying, “I no longer had to make any pronouncements. I simply knew my instincts were right.”
