Tommy Booth was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to Edna Mae Babcock and Thomas Edward Booth. Drafted in 1969 to the Army, Booth was in the 143rd Airborne, serving in Pan Mun Jom, North Korea as an MP for the UN. Being a soldier transformed him. In 1971 he worked with Veterans Against the Vietnam War. He graduated from Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts in Philadelphia. Tom had a successful gallery, painted billboards, thousands of signs, murals, houses, and fine paintings. In 1989, Tom, Jean, Emily and Ben moved from Philadelphia to Hana, Maui. He bequeathed Waioni Farm, upper Nahiku, Maui, to Ben and Emily Booth.
In 2016, he went to Standing Rock to support Native water rights. Booth was dedicated to the belief, “We do not own the land, the land owns us.”
Locals and visitors enjoyed the humor of Booth’s sculptures, displayed at North Beach and uptown at Pierce and Lincoln through the election in 2020.
Tom is survived by his children Emily and Ben Booth; Carol Long, wife; brother Fred Booth; and sister Linda Booth Wloch. Celebrations of Tom’s life and memory will be private.
Visit the Kosec Funeral Home website to plant a tree or write comments: https://www.kosecfh.com/obituaries/thomas-edward-booth?obid=21623010#/obituaryinfo .
