Thomas P. Harwood, former SCC commissioner, dies at 80

Thomas P. Harwood, a top Virginia regulator during an era of upheaval for the state’s electric-power industry and its customers, died Sunday. He was 80.

Mr. Harwood was a member of the State Corporation Commission from 1973 until his retirement in 1992. The period was marked by frequent battles between consumers and the businesses that the commission regulates—utilities, telecommunications and insurance, among them.

Mr. Harwood, known as Tommy, died of complications from leukemia in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., where he and his wife of 53 years, the former Mary Virginia Ambrose, kept a home. Until several years ago, the couple also maintained a residence in Richmond.

Mr. Harwood’s tenure at the SCC paralleled the transformation in the mid-1980s of the state’s biggest utility, the Virginia Electric and Power Co., to Dominion Resources, corporate umbrella for the energy colossus it is today.

Mr. Harwood—tall, lantern-jawed, witty and given to quoting Latin phrases—had a reputation for even-handedness, friends and associates recalled yesterday.

“Tommy was very serious-minded, but with a humorous streak,“ said Theodore V. Morrison Jr., who served with Mr. Harwood on the three-member SCC for several years.

Mr. Harwood joined the SCC—its members are elected by the General Assembly—from what is now known as the Virginia Workers’ Compensation Commission.

Mr. Harwood served nine years on that panel, which resolves disputes about workplace injuries.

Born Jan. 22, 1929 in Green Bank, W.Va., Mr. Harwood grew up in Crewe and Saluda, the son of mathematics and Latin teachers.

A stickler for noting birthdays and other important occasions, Mr. Harwood was known to telephone SCC colleagues—past and present—on the anniversary of the day they took office.

Mr. Harwood graduated in 1950 with a bachelor’s degree in history from Virginia Military Institute, where he played baseball as a right-handed pitcher paired with catcher Elmon T. Gray, a future Democratic state senator from Sussex County.

Gray’s father, Garland, who preceded his son in the Virginia Senate, championed Mr. Harwood for the workers’ board.

Another influential political ally of Mr. Harwood was his former law partner, the late Edward E. Lane of Richmond, former House Appropriations Committee chairman and unsuccessful Democratic candidate for attorney general in 1977.

Mr. Harwood, a graduate of the University of Virginia law school, was an Army combat veteran of the Korean War. A lieutenant in the 7th Cavalry, Mr. Harwood was awarded the Purple Heart for wounds in 1951 that required surgery to an arm and hand.

In addition to his wife, Mr. Harwood’s survivors include two sons, Thomas P. Harwood III of Phoenix; and Hunter Harwood of Ann Arbor, Mich.; a daughter, Sally C. Harwood of New York, five grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held 2:30 p.m. Saturday at Crestwood Presbyterian Church, 6627 Jahnke Road., Richmond. Burial at Hollywood Cemetery will be private.