Andrew Thurm, marketing expert and Stuart Country Day School pianist, dies at 80

Andrew “Andy” Thurm died at the Princeton Medical Center on July 29 after a very brief illness. He was 80.

Andy was born in Manhattan in 1944 and always considered himself a New Yorker. His family moved to Scarsdale where Andy graduated from high school. He then graduated from Dartmouth College and came back to New York to earn an MBA from Columbia Business School.

He worked at Exxon in the aviation fuel division and then at McGraw Hill for Business Week Magazine.

He married Ann Thomson in 1969 and they lived on 57th Street while they worked and saved money to take a two-year trip around the world, working wherever they could find jobs.

Friends and family knew they were saving money but were assured it was to buy a house in the suburbs and were surprised – not to say shocked – when they heard their plans.

Most of the places they stayed in were in the $1-2 range and many of them included all the bananas you could eat. Virtually none had running water.

Andy and Ann started the trip by staying with Indians on the Amazon and then proceeded through South America.

They then spent many months in Africa on camping Safari trips and climbing Kilimanjaro.

They celebrated Christmas in Bethlehem and then spent the next year traveling and working in Asia.

In Africa, they worked for a small market research company run by a husband and wife and Andy discovered that he preferred that environment to working for a large company.

When he returned to New York he opened his own company, Thurm Marketing and Consulting, which he ran until his retirement.

While he enjoyed marketing and having his own business his first love was music. He had studied music from age 4 and was a very accomplished pianist.

Shortly after his retirement, he saw an ad from Stuart Country Day School, which was looking for an accompanist. He was thrilled to get the job and spent ten very happy years in the classrooms; theater productions; and accompanying individual students.

He used his musical skills in churches as well, including St. Matthew’s Church and Montgomery Ministries.

For Christmas, he and Ann would host a carol party that people said they looked forward to all year.

Andy was very active in the Princeton Dartmouth Club. He was an excellent tennis player, with a serve that was very hard to return. He was a voracious reader and started a monthly men’s book group when he retired, and it is still going strong.

A compassionate and caring man, Andy was a generous donor to charitable causes. He sponsored a child in need in developing countries for many years and was always willing to help out friends and family in many ways. He will be greatly missed.

He was predeceased by his brother Allen Thurm and his cousin Tanya Roberts. He is survived by his wife of 55 years, Ann, and his daughter London Thomson-Thurm.

He will be missed by his extended family including nieces Shelley Hughes, Heidi Thomson, and Aileen Thurm, as well as cousins Kevin Thurm, Karen Thurm, Barbara Leary, Zachary Leary, Nancy Salz, and Richard Mickey.

There will be a memorial service in the fall.  Memorial service information will be posted when available.  

Arrangements are under the direction of Mather-Hodge Funeral Home in Princeton.