Tom was born and raised in San Francisco. As a child, he enjoyed spending summers at Camp Mather, San Francisco's recreation camp, and hiking in nearby Yosemite National Park. Tom attended San Francisco's Polytechnic High School and City College of San Francisco. After graduating from Cal Poly State College San Luis Obispo with a bachelor's degree in Industrial Engineering Tom went to work for the Stanford Linear Accelerator Center as part of their operations staff. Following his time at SLAC, he worked for the Lockheed Palo Alto Research Laboratory as a clean room technician assisting in preparing flight hardware for space missions. Outside of work, Tom enjoyed touring the country on his motorcycle.