Thomas J. Shepardson

Thomas J. Shepardson, known in the disaster response community as father of the Disaster Mortuary Operational Response Team (DMORT) program, died suddenly Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2003.

"As a volunteer, Tom's efforts to add mortuary affairs and forensic experts to the National Disaster Medical System brought comfort and peace of mind to thousands of families," said HHS Secretary Tommy G. Thompson. "The identification of victims and proper treatment of their remains is Tom's lasting legacy. He will be truly missed by not only everyone in the DMORT program but also the entire National Disaster Medical System."

Shepardson first became a volunteer with the Department of Health and Human Services' Office of Emergency Preparedness in the late 1980s with a vision and plan to improve our nation's ability to respond to major disasters involving mass fatalities. He proposed volunteer teams be formed of professionals with expertise in not only mortuary affairs but also a variety of forensic sciences.

As a result of his efforts, HHS presented Shepardson's plan to the National Disaster Medical System (NDMS). It was accepted and in 1992 a network of ten DMORT teams, one in each federal region of the country, was established.

Shepardson continued to be a driving force behind the new DMORT program. He was instrumental in the development and procurement of portable morgue systems. As an instructor, he traveled across the country teaching mass fatality incident response at the Emergency Management Institute, the NDMS national conference and for many state governments.

As DMORTs began to carry out missions, Shepardson was there for every major deployment. His first assignment came when a DMORT was sent to assist state and local officials at the Oklahoma City Murrah Building bombing. Shepardson supervised the first use of the portable morgue system for the Korean Air crash in Guam. He also led DMORT response to a series of airline accidents including the 1999 Egypt Air and Alaskan Air crash in 2000.

"Facing the difficult challenges of disaster response with mass fatalities takes an extraordinary individual," said Acting Assistant Secretary for Public Health Emergency Preparedness Jerome Hauer. "Tom was someone I knew we could always count on to be there in those trying times. He will be sorely missed."

While working with the National Transportation Safety Board, Shepardson helped develop the family assistance program that is now a key element in our nation's disaster response efforts.

After the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Shepardson helped lead DMORT missions that saw teams deployed to both New York City and the Pennsylvania crash site. Over the course of the following ten months, Shepardson continued to lead DMORT assistance to the New York City Medical Examiner's office, which was critical in helping to identify hundreds of victims from the World Trade Center attack.

Ever the innovator, shortly before his death, Shepardson established a DMORT forensic oversight committee and was leading efforts to add cadaver dogs to the DMORT program.

Message from Kevin Yeskey,
Director Office of Emergency Response

Syracuse Post Standard Obituary

Syracuse News Story

 

A small selection of Tom's Guestbook Entries


peter goelz
As the former Mangaging Director of the NTSB, I had the honor of working with Tom at many accident sites. His compassion for and advocacy on behalf of the victims and their families set the tone for the entire family assistance program now in place.He was a gentlman and we will all surely miss him


Alan Colon, Central NMRT
www.DMAT-CO2.org
To our DMORT brothers and sisters,::::We of Central NMRT extend our thoughts and prayers to all those who had the pleasure of knowing Tom and Fred.::::They were always there to help, to teach, to learn, and to improve. They were also the first to be your new best friend.::::We will miss them both terribly and am sorry for their passing, but we are very glad they were here. I also feel very lucky to have known them.::::With love,::National Medical Response Team - Central


Michael Gedert
I could not imagine a person who could have had a better combination of heart and mind than Tom Shepardson to guide DMORT through its growing years. His genuine concern for all the families DMORT has worked with through the years has been a tremendous example for all DMORT members to follow. Sadly, it is now our turn to convey the love and respect to Tom's family that he has given to so many others throughout his career. I don't think anyone who has worked him will ever forget what a great human being he was. And of course, we will miss his warm, welcoming and sometimes comical tradition of starting the morning with a "group hug".

Bill Crawshaw DMORT 5
I was advised this morning that DMORT National Team Leader and National Commander Tom Shepardson of Syracuse, N.Y. had a Heart Attack and has Died.::Tom and his family also operate a Funeral Home in Syracuse, Ny. Please keep Tom and his family in your Prayers, also Pray for the members of the DMORT Teams Nationwide. We all will feel this loss in a special way as Tom "ALWAYS" treated us like his family. As Tom would say. "Give each other a Big Hug". In addition, DMORT also lost Jack King DMORT Leader from Knoxville,Tn last week by a Heart Attack. Jack was a kind and strong leader for DMORT. Members of DMORT, we now more than ever need to keep each other in our prayers and pray for Gods hand to help us though this time.


Dave Hunt DMORT V
Tom and Fred were great people, Tom and I had a chance to talk at the NDMS Conference, he made sure you felt like a part of the family whether you just met him or had known him for a long time. I only knew Fred a short while from NYC he was very friendly to me and made sure we were taken care of. DMORT has suffered a tremendous loss.


Captain Ronald L. Pugh
It would be great if you could create a temporary page for comments and or thoughts about Tom Shepardson that could at some point be presented to his family.