Dominick Thomas can recall pulling up old tiles with an ice scraper as a teenager to help renovate a new building for the Valley Association of Retarded Children and Adults.
Thomas’ family helped form the organization, which provides job and training services for people with disabilities, and Thomas has always had his hand in helping as a result.
When he was younger, that help came in the form of physical labor.
Today, Thomas helps VARCA, and other local agencies, through his volunteer work and by providing legal services pro-bona.
“I think it comes from the genesis of my parents,” Thomas said of his community involvement. “It if isn’t money, it’s that you can give of your services.”
Thomas was named the 2010 winner of the Charles H. Flynn Humanitarian award for a life time of community involvement and achievement in the Valley. The Valley United Way presented him with the award at its annual dinner April 27.
Thomas recently sat down with the Valley Indy to reflect on his community service and his career as a lawyer.
The Resume
“I had a philosophy. Don’t go on these boards to put them on your resume,” Thomas said. “That’s not the point. I’ve been asked to be on other boards, and I’ve had to say, ‘No. I don’t have the time.’”
But his list of associations would fill any resume page and then some.
The Lower Naugatuck Valley Boys and Girls Club, Birmingham Group Health Services, VARCA, Valley United Way, Hartford Catholic Charities, Katharine Matthies Foundation, Valley Community Foundation.
Thomas has served on boards of directors, served as general counsel and worked on committees for those groups over the course of 30 years.
Not only has Dominick been involved with local nonprofits, he has also been involved with civic government in twice serving as a member of the Oxford Charter Commission. He was also the Town Counsel in Oxford on three separate occasions.
The Examples
Thomas said he surrounds himself by people who are highly involved in the community.
It started with his parents — Dominick Sr. and Ann — who were active in the Valley throughout his childhood.
“That was the genesis of it — my mother and father,” Thomas said. “It was always something you gave to the community, you participated in the community.”
Thomas said he watches in admiration as his wife, Sally, also gives back.
For example, as a guidance counselor, Sally Thomas was part of a group of teachers that makes sure underpriviledged students get gifts at Christmas time, Thomas said.
“And we would pack the boys (their two sons) into the car and drive around at Christmas time and be part of that group that would drop off the gifts,” Thomas said.
Thomas, a prominent attorney in the Valley, said he tries to give of his legal knowledge to local non profits.
“I do a lot of work for the non-profits, a lot of the emergency medical services, either for nothing or substantially reduced rates,” Thomas said.
His Career
Thomas graduated from the College of Holy Cross, and received this law degree from the University of Virginia.
He then enlisted with the Air Force, and worked in the Air Force special investigations unit, before transferring to the Army to serve as a captain in the U.S. Army Judge Advocate Corps.
There, Thomas worked as an attorney for the Army, before taking a job in 1956 1976 as a law teacher at the United States Military Academy at West Point.
Thomas ended up defending cadets in one of the biggest scandals of the time period — the engineering test cheating scandal.
Almost the entire junior class was accused of cheating off each other on a take home engineering exam, and Thomas and several other law teachers at the school had the task of defending them.
His first student was acquitted, Thomas said.
“Our position was, this was ridiculous what you’re doing. You couldn’t tell who cheated off who, who grabbed whose paper,” Thomas said.
In 1977, Thomas was offered a job working for the Cohen law firm in Derby as an associate attorney. He eventually became partner.
Click play on the video at left to see him at work, defending a client during the public comments of a Shelton Board of Aldermen meeting.
The Recognition
Long-time friend and partner at Cohen & Thomas, Jamie Cohen presented the award to Thomas.
“Dominick gives of himself willingly, happily, and without reservation,” Cohen said. “He is most deserving of any and every recognition that the Valley can offer to any volunteer. Dominick Thomas is the very person for whom a Humanitarian award was designed.”
Jack Walsh, President and C.O.O. at Valley United Way also praised Thomas, in a statement issued announcing the award.
“Dominick has been an incredibly dedicated volunteer leader in the Valley ever since he returned from military service,” Walsh said. “He has been very generous with his time and expertise, and the community is a much better place because of his contributions.”
