Tom Gray, a longtime wind industry advocate and former executive director of the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA), passed away unexpectedly on Thursday following a head injury.
As written by AWEA’s Greg Alvarez, Gray was affectionately known as the “Wind Wizard” due to his “encyclopedic knowledge of wind.” Gray began working for AWEA back in the 1980s, when he personally wrote and mailed the association’s very first newsletters.
After serving as AWEA’s executive director in the 80s, he moved to Vermont and took on the role of communications director for more than 20 years. Demonstrating his true passion for wind, Gray had requested that some of his ashes be spread at a wind farm, his wife Linda told AWEA.
Following his retirement several years ago, AWEA sung his praises in a 2013 article: “[W]hen Gray retired from the internal AWEA staff a few years ago, AWEA flat-out refused to part with his unparalleled skill set, which collectively comprises a combination of knowledge and communications perhaps unrivaled in the industry. Thus, his role morphed once more, this time into ‘Wind Energy Communications Consultant’ for AWEA.” Indeed, until his passing, Gray was still advocating for wind energy in AWEA’s blog and on social media.
Beyond his dedication to the wind industry, Alvarez writes that Gray was “a kind friend and a skilled and principled mentor.”
You can read more about Tom Gray via AWEA’s blog here.
