A new scholarship at the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford was created to memorialize Thomas Sheeley, a longtime member of the facilities staff who died last year.

The Thomas J. Sheeley Memorial Scholarship will benefit a Pitt-Bradford upperclass student making progress toward their degree.

Born in Kane, Sheeley was a 1965 graduate of Bradford High School and served two years in the U.S. Army during the Vietnam War, where he served in the 1^st Battalion, 27^th Infantry, D Company “Wolfhounds” from Sept. 1, 1966, until June 13, 1968. His service included the January 1968 counteroffensive of the Viet Cong’s surprise Tet attack against the South Vietnamese and their American allies.

 He worked at Speer resistor in Bradford, Oak Hill Cemetery and several locally owned companies before beginning work at Pitt-Bradford in 1980.

“Pitt-Bradford was Tom’s home,” Sheeley’s wife, Diane, said of the campus. “He loved it, and always enjoyed talking about Pitt-Bradford when we traveled.”

Tom Sheeley was known as a prankster and loved a good joke.

“His sense of humor was one of the things that attracted me to him,” Diane Sheeley said. The two were married on May 28, 2001, in the gazebo on campus.

Diane Sheeley said her husband’s favorite time of year on campus was graduation. He took pride in preparing the university’s arena for the event. He also enjoyed moving students in and out of housing each fall and spring.

Tom Sheeley retired from Pitt-Bradford in 2014 after 34 years of service to maintenance, housing and the university’s auxiliary services.

During the 2022-23 school year, Pitt-Bradford awarded $824,473 in donor scholarships.

To learn about creating a scholarship at Pitt-Bradford, contact the university’s Office of Philanthropic and Alumni Engagement at 814-362-5091 or visit upb.pitt.edu/giving.