Thomas Irving McCabe

Thomas Irving McCabe lived with chronic heart disease and passed from this world to the next on Thursday, March 27, 2023. He was born in Ocean City, Maryland, on April 20, 1948 to Irving John and Gennette McCabe. As a child in Berlin, Maryland, he often stayed at the farm of his grandparents Wash and Myrtle McCabe. It was there that Myrtle instilled in him the qualities of kindness and a love of others. 

When he was 13, his parents moved the family to Ocean City where Irv ran a full service Sinclair gas station and Gennette ran a small boarding house for beach clients. Tom loved the beach and was an avid surfer. He attended Stephen Decatur High School while renting beach umbrellas each summer and eventually having his own vending machine business. After graduating from Chesapeake College he opened a shop featuring beach clothing, bicycles, skateboards and surf boards. He sponsored popular BMX races that drew competitors from around the nation. 

As a married man he had three children with Diana (Dobby) Engh. She ran their Old Town Inn, a Bed and Breakfast in Ocean City while Tom went into the real estate business full time, which he enjoyed. He spearheaded several commercial renovations and built several condominium projects. He became president of the Downtown Association and was active in local and state politics and was on the Maryland State Republican Central Committee. 

He was divorced in 1987. He worked at managing shops and restaurants such as The Tavern by the Sea on the Ocean City boardwalk and as a mortgage loan officer. In 2003 he moved to Adamstown, Maryland, to be with his beloved partner, Patricia Lasko, where he continued as a loan officer for BB&T and M&T Banks. The couple spent the next 20 years caring for rescue horses, buying and selling antiques, traveling and watching their children from previous marriages grow and prosper. In addition to Patricia, Tom is survived by his daughter Jennifer Lyn Stillwell and her sons Ethan, Brian and Daniel Alexander; his son First Sergeant John Thomas McCabe and his wife Ashley and their daughter Emma; and his daughter Jessica Diane Engh. 

Services and interment will be private.