Tom Stroock

Ambassador Thomas F. Stroock died on December 13, 2009, after a difficult battle with multiple health problems including heart and lung failure. He was 84. He remained mentally active and intellectually curious until the very end.
A memorial celebration of his life will be held Saturday, January 9, 2010 at 3 pm in the Natrona County High School Auditorium. A reception at the Petroleum Club will follow.
Born in New York City on October 10, 1925, to Samuel (Hans) and Dorothy Frank Stroock, he spent his early years in Manhattan. In 1942, at age 17, he enlisted in the United States Marine Corp and served as a Marine in WWII. With the aid of the GI bill, he attended Yale University, earning a BA degree in economics with the class of 1948-W.
His employer, the Stanolind Oil and Gas Company, sent him to Casper in 1949. He arrived a bachelor and later that summer married his college sweetheart, Marta Freyre de Andrade, who was born and raised in Havana, Cuba. Stroock immediately loved Wyoming and its welcoming people. The couple made Casper their home for over 60 years, and while raising their family became deeply involved in civic affairs. Together they made significant contributions to numerous community, state and national organizations.
When his employer wanted to transfer him from Casper in 1952, Stroock formed his own firm, Stroock Leasing Corporation. In 1960, he joined with dear friends Buck Rogers and Shirley Dymond to operate Stroock, Rogers & Dymond. Other business entities followed and he remained active in the oil and gas business as head of Alpha Development until his death.

His first elected office was to the Natrona County School Board, where he served as president from 1960 to 1969, and later served as president of the Wyoming State School Board Association from 1965-66.

He served as a Republican precinct committeeman from 1950 to 1968. In 1967 he was elected to represent Natrona County in the Wyoming State Senate, and was re-elected to the same post four more times. While in the Senate, he co-chaired the Joint Appropriations Committee where he earned a reputation for knowing state budget details and asking tough, insightful questions. Stroock took great pride in representing the mineral industry while also making significant contributions to environmental and wildlife conservation, as well as education. He was a staunch supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment that was ratified by the Wyoming Senate during his tenure, joking that with a wife, four daughters and even a female dog at home he had no choice.

Following an unsuccessful candidacy for Wyoming's lone seat in the U.S. House of Representatives, Stroock served as chairman of the Wyoming State Republican Committee from 1975 to 1978. He served as Western State Chair of the Republican Party and later as a regional coordinator in both presidential campaigns of his friend George H. W. Bush.

Stroock served as U. S. Ambassador to Guatemala for 3 years, from 1989 to 1992; it was one of his proudest accomplishments. He was appointed to the post by President George H. W. Bush. As ambassador he simultaneously delighted and exasperated State Department personnel with his breathtaking candor. He doggedly pursued issues of respect for human rights, rooting out corruption in the Guatemalan government, reducing drug trafficking, and developing a functioning judicial system for that country.

Stroock maintained a lifelong interest in foreign policy. He was a co-founder, past-president and member of the Wyoming Committee on Foreign Relations. He continued to attend educational sessions of the Casper Foreign Relations Committee even as his health waned. For a number of years after returning from Guatemala he wrote a column about foreign relations for the Casper Star Tribune. He was an early and vocal opponent of the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

In 1984, Stroock and his wife endowed the Stroock Professorship of Natural Resource Conservation and Management for the College of Commerce and Industry at the University of Wyoming. Stroock also sponsored the annual Thomas Stroock Lecture Series through the College of Arts and Sciences. He won the Distinguished Visiting Professor Award in 1996 in recognition for the classes he taught as a Distinguished Visiting Professor of Public Policy. For his many years of public service, Stroock was awarded an honorary Doctor of Law degree in 1995 by the University of Wyoming. He continued to support the University as a member of the board overseeing the School of Energy Resources, resigning from that board just weeks before his death.
Stroock believed that equal access to an excellent education was critical to democracy. He made significant gifts to his alma mater, Yale University, was an active supporter of Casper College and worked to bring four-year degree programs to that campus. He served for many years on the board of the Universidad del Valle in Guatemala.
From the moment he arrived in Casper in 1949, Stroock loved everything about Wyoming. He loved the open character of its people and its wide open landscapes. He was eternally amazed and grateful that a young man could arrive in Wyoming with nothing, and with hard work and some luck earn enough to live comfortably and support a family.
He was an avid outdoorsman who enjoyed backpacking, fly fishing and skiing. For over 50 years, he and a group of close friends, known as the "Cheerful Charlies," set aside one week every summer for a backpack trip into the mountains of Wyoming. He enjoyed being in the out-of-doors, both summer and winter. He was part of a community effort to develop Hogadon Basin Ski Area and was active in the formation of the Casper Mountain Racers junior ski program.
Stroock cherished the company of his family and friends. He is survived by his wife of over 60 years, Marta, their four daughters: Margie Stroock and her husband Andy Low, Sandy Leotta and her husband Miguel, Betty Stroock, and Anne Ladd and her husband Bruce. Two nephews, Fernando Freyre and Alvaro Freyre, and a niece, Vivian Freyre Howard, lived with the family and are considered among the siblings. His sister Sandra McElwaine, and her son Andrew McElwaine also survive him. He leaves 8 grandchildren: Monica Leotta, Maria Leotta, Roger Low, Annie Low, Tommy Ladd, Amy Ladd, Nina Stroock, and Maya Stroock. There are also several great-nieces and great-nephews as well as family members from France, Canada and Cuba with whom he was very close.