Oct. 31, 2006 Thomas Joseph Dunn III, 57, of Estate Elizabeth, died Monday evening after a prolonged battle with cancer. Dunn, born in Scotch Plains, N. J., was a longtime resident of St. Thomas, where he resided since 1980. He was known to one and all as "Tom," and upon his death was on leave from Innovative Telephone Co., where he served as public relations director.
Dunn graduated from the University of Illinois in 1972, where he was an ardent civil rights activist, participating in freedom rides to Mississippi and Louisiana. He later attended the UCLA School of Business.
Upon moving to St. Thomas he served as president of the Green Parrott Co., which operated an award-winning restaurant at the Magens Point Resort.
Dunn later worked in the V.I. Legislature for three different senators, including Lorraine L. Berry, Adlah "Foncie" Donastorg, and Roosevelt C. David. As a chief researcher for David, Dunn facilitated drafting 54 bills, 24 of which were signed into law.
He also served as executive director of the V.I. Bureau of Health Insurance and Medical Assistance under Gov. Alexander A. Farrelly and as assistant commissioner of the V.I. Department of Public Works during Gov. Charles W. Turnbull's administration.
Dunn was a principal, along with Dr. Alfred O. Heath and other Virgin Islanders, in Caribbean Health Care, a company developed to standardize medical care and drug formularies for Haitian hospitals and other clinical care facilities.
Dunn was active in a number of community organizations and served eight terms as a board member of the Rotary Club of St. Thomas II, three terms as president of the Council on Alcoholism St. Thomas, four terms as a board member on the St. Thomas-St. John Hotel Association and vice chairman for six consecutive years of the V.I. Health Planning Council.
He also served as a member of the V.I. Domestic Violence Coordinating Council, the V.I. Resource Center for the Disabled, V.I. Project Safe Neighborhoods, Child Abuse Task Force and the St. Thomas-St. John Chamber of Commerce. He also served on the advisory board of The V.I. Daily News.
He is survived by his wife, Jeanette Roasio Dunn, of St. Thomas; father, Thomas Joseph Dunn II of Maple Valley, Wash.; sisters, Moira Dunn of Maple Valley, Wash., and Barbara Cunningham of Hawaii; and sisters-in-law, Adrienne Roasio and Leah Anne Roasio of New York, N. Y.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in memory of Tom to the Humane Society of St. Thomas , P.O. Box 8150, St. Thomas, VI 00801.
A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m., Saturday, Nov. 11, at the St. Thomas Reformed Church. All funeral arrangements are by Davis Funeral Home, 774-1464.
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