Tom Susanka attended Thomas Aquinas College for one year before receiving a baccalaureate degree in biology from Portland State University in Oregon. He completed course work and teaching and did research in molecular biology for a master’s degree in biology in 1979, also at Portland State University.

From 1979 until 2004, Mr. Susanka was Director of Admissions for Thomas Aquinas College. During those years, enrollment at the College more than tripled, to 330 men and women.

He was Director of Gift Planning for Thomas Aquinas College from 2004 until 2020. During those years, gifts received by the College from bequests, trusts, wills, and other charitable plans exceeded $15,000,000. He retired from the College in 2020.

Susanka and his wife of 51 years, Therese, live in the Ojai Valley in southern California. He directs the Extraordinary Ministry of the Eucharist in the parish of St. Thomas Aquinas, For 15 years, he has been a member of the parish’s Finance Council. Since retirement, he has returned to the study of biology and music as an amateur. And he enjoys the California sun in the extensive gardens surrounding the Susanka home.

The Susankas have seven children, 27 grandchildren and one great-grandchild. So far.