Thomas Briggs

Thomas Briggs, age 84, died March 20, 2018, in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. A graduate of Yale University in 1954, he received his Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in 1960, and, after a Fellowship at Guys Hospital in London, England, and Yale University, became a Professor of Biochemistry in 1968 at the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Medicine. He researched and taught in the medical, nursing and pharmacy schools for almost thirty years. His publications included OKLAHOMA NOTES, BIOCHEMISTRY, which he co-authored and co-edited, published by Springer-Verlag in 1987, Second Edition, 1992. Born in 1933 in New York City, New York, his childhood was spent in Paris, France, until 1939 when he returned to the United States with his family, parents James Elmer Briggs and Carlotta Welles Briggs and brother James Welles Briggs, first, to Altadena, California, and then to South Norwalk, Connecticut. He is survived by his children, Thomas Welles Briggs and Elizabeth Anne Booth of Fort Worth, Texas; Mary Courtney Briggs Melton and Timothy Allen Melton of Oklahoma City; and Jacqueline Muriel Byrne Briggs and Eric Gidal of Iowa City, Iowa. Muriel Jacqueline Murphy Briggs of Oklahoma City was the Mother of his children. He is survived by seven grandchildren: Kelley Welles Briggs; Carlotta Jacqueline Maria Melton, Courtney Elizabeth Alexandra Melton, Claire Marie Muriel Melton; Carlotta Genevieve Briggs Gidal, Sylvia Anna Briggs Gidal, and Genevieve Muriel Briggs Gidal. He was a member of the Oklahoma City Runners Club, and past member of the Sierra Club and the Oklahoma City Astronomy Club. He enjoyed hiking and backpacking in the Sierra Nevada Mountains and Yosemite National Park, and hiked as well in the Pyrenees in Spain and France and traveled extensively throughout the world, to every continent. He was an outdoor enthusiast who enjoyed nature and spending time in the wilderness. He was a skilled photographer; his works included remarkable photos of nature, animals and Africa. A French speaker, he enjoyed cooking and baking bread. He was an enthusiastic apiarist, or beekeeper. His great passion was running, and he competed in countless races as a member of the Oklahoma City Landrunners. An avid marathon runner, he ran more than 110 marathons, completing marathons in every state and on every continent. He ran marathons on glaciers, in the desert, over mountains, over mud and rocks, and on the streets of New York and Boston. In 2010 he was recognized by the Boston Athletic Association for running 25 consecutive Boston Marathons, and went on to run 28 Boston Marathons. He ran his last marathon on Easter Island in 2015. Although no memorial service, memorial contributions may be made to Yale University or to the charity of one's choice.