Thomas J. Bundros, who served three terms as a Gilroy schools trustee and earned the love and respect of colleagues and constituents for his dedication to his family and schools, died Wednesday after a years-long battle with cancer. He was 67.
“He was an amazing, remarkable human being,” his wife of 43 years, Tina Bundros, said Thursday.
“He did everything with love and great passion and he never said one bad word about anyone,” she said, remembering him as a man who lived his faith and who was “the foundation of our family and the spiritual leader of our home.”
She said her husband was diagnosed with cancer nearly four years ago but that some people who knew him were unaware because he bore the challenge with characteristic dignity and humility.
“He was a gentle man who loved his country and never tooted his own horn. I was blessed beyond measure to be in his presence every day,” she said.
Bundros was close to colleagues in the school district, where he spent a dozen years as a champion of education, high standards and children.
“Every descriptor I would use would start with ‘wonderful’,” said Debbie Flores, Gilroy Unified School District Superintendent. She credited Bundros’ high values in part with her decision to move to Gilroy and lead its public school system.
“He was just an incredible advocate for public schools, and so dedicated to ensuring that we provide the best possible education for all students,” said Flores, who worked with Bundros on education issues for 12 years.
Bundros, a U.S. Marine veteran of the Vietnam War and father of six children, was first elected to the school board in 2002 and served for 12 years.
He was board president in 2007, served as vice president, represented Gilroy at the Santa Clara County School Boards Association and worked on committees for technology and health and on the Gifted and Talented Education (GATE) and Superintendent’s Parent Advisory Committee (SPAC) programs.
Flores said her contact with Bundros during the job interview process was a major reason she accepted the superintendent’s position in 2002.
“I talked to him a number of times, by phone and in person, and realized we shared so many common values; and I thought that if he represented this district, I knew this was the district I wanted to work for,” Flores said Thursday.
Flores credited Bundros’ leadership and commitment to high standards with many of the good things that happened in the district during his tenure on the board.
“It’s thanks to him,” she said. “He sought out high performing districts and we visited them because of his advocacy and insistence that we be the best district we could be, and our results show it worked,” said Flores.
“He was professional and caring—we could totally disagree but I never felt he was critical, he was always brainstorming. He was a reflective and thoughtful man, I am so sorry to lose him,” she said, her voice quivering with emotion.
“He set the bar in terms of expectations,” said school board member Jaime Rosso, who served with Bundros and considered him a close friend.
“Tom was just an amazing person. He was tireless, he made his presence known…he drove many new initiatives and made such a big difference in the schools.”
Rosso said his former board colleague approached things like a Marine. “He tackles everything in that spirit, he really does; never complains about anything,” said Rosso.
“He sacrificed himself a lot to do the work, he loved the service and he was a team player and a collaborator…he was somebody I truly grew to appreciate.”
And illness was not going to stop him, Rosso said. “Just by the very fact that he ran for reelection (Bundros lost a bid for a fourth term last November) knowing full well his condition—he was not about to give it up or throw in the towel in terms of what his passion was.”
“He was just a pillar for everyone, said long-time Bundros family friend Kanella Sarros, secretary at St. Nicholas Greek Othrodox Church where Bundros taught Sunday school for more than two decades.
“He was a man of great strength, a man of great dignity and humility and a fighter.”
Even after his diagnosis, she said, Bundros was ‘Just as active as he always was.”
Born Thomas (Athanosios) John Bundros on November 20, 1947 to Mary and John Bundros of San Francisco, he was raised in Daly City. As a 13-year-old, he mastered radio technology and Morse code and earned a ham radio license.
A year after he was graduated from Westmoor High School in 1965, Bundros volunteered for the Marine Corps. He served in Vietnam as a Military Auxiliary Radio System (MARS) operator, often working 16-hour shifts to make sure GIs who waited in lines for hours had the chance to make 3-minute radio calls to loved ones back home. He was a lance corporal at the time of his honorable discharge in 1969, when he moved to British Columbia and met his future wife.
In the 1980s, he and his family moved to Gilroy where he enjoyed raising sheep, tending to fruit trees and gardening at their rural, east Gilroy home tucked up against the foothills, Tina Bundros said.
He was a kind-hearted, deeply religious man who loved the California mountains and the islands of Hawaii and Greece, had a great sense of humor and was extremely proud of his Greek heritage. He also supported the performing arts, according to his family.
He had a long career in information technology systems management at IBM, Hitachi and Nvidia before retirement in 2013.
A Trisagion memorial service will take place at 7 p.m. Jan. 25 at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 1260 Davis St., San Jose. The funeral will be at 11 a.m. Jan. 26 at the same location, with burial at 1:30 p.m. Jan. 28 at San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery, 32053 West McCabe Road Santa Nella, Calif. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church Building Fund, 986 Chapman St., San Jose CA 95126.
