Louis T. Olom

Louis T. Olom died on July 25, 2019, two weeks after celebrating his 102nd birthday. He died in his home of 66 years, in Falls Church, Virginia. He was born July 10, 1917, in Chicago, Illinois, to Nathan and Fanny (Wax) Shaikevitz. He graduated from the University of Chicago and was one dissertation short of a PhD in Political Science when he was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation Fellowship in NYC, where his office developed the technique of content analysis. During World War II he worked for the Federal government in various roles dealing with information gathering and analysis. Following WWII he chaired the Department of Social and Political Science at Jacksonville Junior College (now University of Jacksonville). He moved back to the D.C. area in the early 1950’s to work for the State Department and finally moved to the US Information Agency, where he became the Staff Director of the U.S. Advisory Commission on Information for almost 25 years. USIA awarded him the Superior Service Award in 1955. His Public Service passion also extended to his beloved Falls Church, VA, where he moved with his wife and 2 children in 1953. He led the creation of the Citizens for a Better City, which nominated and elected City Council members for decades. He wrote and presented the city’s application for designation as an All American City, which was granted in 1962. He organized, and twice led, the Falls Church Village Preservation and Improvement Society. Perhaps his greatest passion was education. He served on the Falls Church School Board and later introduced and successfully advocated for the International Baccalaureate Program in the school system. Mr. Olom was pre-deceased by his wife of almost 50 years, Susan L. Olom; his son, Jonathan L. Olom; and his sister Dell Borschow. He is survived by his daughters Noralyn Olom Harlow (John T.) and Deborah L. Sherman (Andrew); his five grandchildren Kristin Harlow (Laurel Odronic), Amanda Bitzer (Clint), Benjamin Sherman (Ali), Sarah Sherman (Jake Schwing), David Sherman (Liz); his five great-grandchildren; and his nephew Mark Borschow. Services will be held at 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday, July 31st at Temple Rodef Shalom in McLean, Virginia. In lieu of flowers, the family suggests donations to the Jonathan L. Olom Trial Advocacy Scholarship at the University of Denver’s Sturm College of Law, or to the Olom IB Fund at the Falls Church Education Foundation, details below. For the scholarship, checks payable to Sturm College of Law with notation that donation is for the Jonathan L. Olom Trial Advocacy scholarship. Mail to University of Denver Sturm College of Law, Office of Development, 2255 E. Evans Avenue, Suite 215, Denver, Colorado 80208. For the Olom IB Fund, mail to Falls Church Education Foundation, 150 S. Washington St., Suite 400, Falls Church, VA 22046.

Tributes

Louis T. Olom

July 10, 1917 - July 25, 2019