Thomas Senneff

THOMAS SENNEFF

Iowa CIty

Thomas C. Senneff, 84, of Iowa City, died Sunday, Aug. 23, 2015, at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 a.m. Thursday, Aug. 27, at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Iowa City with Father Steve Witt officiating. Visitation will be held from 4 to 6 p.m. Wednesday at Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service in Iowa City where a vigil service will be held at 5:30 p.m. Burial with military honors will be at St. Joseph Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be directed to St. Mary's Catholic Church-St. Anthony's Bread, the Crisis Center of Johnson County or the American Heart Association.

Thomas was an assistant dean emeritus at the College of Law, University of Iowa. He was born in Mason City, Iowa, on April 18, 1931, the son of John A. Senneff Jr. and Eunice Cotton Senneff. He was married to Nancy Ann Bresnahan on June 16, 1956, at St. Thomas More Church. He took his undergraduate work at Loras College in Dubuque and received his law degree from the Iowa law school in 1958. He practiced law in Iowa and Michigan. He became assistant dean for the College of Law, University of Iowa in 1971, a position he held until his retirement on July 1, 1996. While at the law school, he served on various university and bar association committees. In 1993, he received the Award of Excellence from the Association of American Law Schools Section on Continuing Legal Education and was elected chair of the section.

He served in the First Marine Division of the United States Marine Corps during the Korean War and was one of 17 U.S. Marines assigned to live and fight with 2,000 Korean Marines. This group of 17 Americans served longer on the front lines without relief than any other members of the Corps. He returned to the U.S. for several months and was again sent to the Far East. He spent seven months on a hospital ship, Oakland Naval Hospital, and other government hospitals recovering from injuries received during the war.

Tom's family consists of daughters, Cynthia (Bill) Beaumont, Mary Senneff and Martha (Dean) Stewart; daughter-in-law, Sarah Senneff; and his sons, Thomas Senneff Jr. and the late Joseph Senneff. He is survived by 12 grandchildren and two stepgrandchildren, Jessica (Brady) Johnson, Dillan (Victoria) Laughlin, Kallista (Dan) Fischer, Steve Beaumont, Lauren Beaumont, Jack Beaumont, Michael Beaumont, Mason Stewart, Connor Stewart, Claire Stewart, Ellie Senneff, Thomas Senneff III, Justin Stewart and Audrey Stewart. He is also survived by three great-grandchildren: Adrienne, Marcus and Owen Johnson.

He was an active member of all the local Catholic parishes in Iowa City. He served on the parish council of St. Thomas More during the 1970s where he and Nancy were involved in the parish's resettlement of approximately 100 Vietnamese refugees. He was the first editor of St. Patrick's newsletter. For 17 years he was the associate editor of the Federation of Insurance Counsel Quarterly. He was a member of the board of directors of the Hawkeye Wrestling Club and served as its president for over 30 years. He and his wife, Nancy, co-founded and ran the Iowa City Wrestling Club for junior high boys and girls for seven years.

For many years, Tom and Nancy spent summers at their beloved family cabin in northern Minnesota and loved every minute of it! It was a gathering place for family and friends. He loved to fish, sail and was an avid reader. Tom's faith was very important to him. He preformed numerous kindness for others but preferred to be anonymous. He will be greatly missed by all.

Online condolences may be directed to www.lensingfuneral.com.