Thomas P. Moyer (March 2, 1919 – November 28, 2014) was an American movie theater chain magnate, real estate developer, and philanthropist from

Oregon Oregon () is a U.S. state, state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington (state), Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of it ...

. Moyer was known for his lightweight boxing career, his career in entertainment, and for developing several real estate projects, including the 1000 Broadway Building,

Fox Tower The Fox Tower is a 27-story, office skyscraper in downtown Portland, Oregon, along Broadway between Yamhill and Morrison streets. The tower was completed in 2000 at a cost of $64 million, and was named after the Fox Theatre that occupied the s ...

and

Park Avenue West Tower Park Avenue West Tower is a high-rise in downtown Portland, Oregon, United States. The 30-floor tower consists of commercial office space, ground floor retail, and apartments. It is the fourth tallest building in Portland behind the Wells Fargo ...

Biography

Moyer was born on March 2, 1919, in

Portland, Oregon Portland (, ) is a port city in the Pacific Northwest and the largest city in the U.S. state of Oregon. Situated at the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers, Portland is the county seat of Multnomah County, the most populous co ...

. He grew up in the Sellwood area of Portland and went to St. Agatha's Catholic School until eighth grade and then dropped out of school as a freshman to start an amateur

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

career. Known as "Tommy," he was a lightweight boxer with 145 victories of 156 amateur fights. Moyer is recognized as one of the greatest boxers ever produced by the state of Oregon, and was inducted into the

Oregon Sports Hall of Fame The Oregon Sports Hall of Fame honors Oregon athletes, teams, coaches, and others who have made a significant contribution to sports in Oregon. The first class was inducted in 1980, with new inductees added in the fall. Operated by the Oregon Sports ...

in 1999. He was undefeated as a welterweight in 22 professional fights. He was Northwest Champion from 1935 to 1941, a five-time Pacific Coast Champion, a National AAU State Champion, a National Diamond Belt Champion, and an International Diamond Belt Champion. He fought

Sugar Ray Robinson Walker Smith Jr. (May 3, 1921 – April 12, 1989), better known as Sugar Ray Robinson, was an American professional boxer who competed from 1940 to 1965. He was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1990. He is often regarded ...

in a five-round amateur bout in

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

; the winner would go to the 1940 Olympics. Robinson was the winner in a close decision; Moyer was later named to the team after Robinson turned professional. This was Moyer's last defeat in his boxing career. Moyer trained as a member of the U.S. Olympic Boxing team for the Helsinki, Finland Olympics of 1940 but the games were cancelled because of the breakout of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. In 1941, Moyer joined the

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the land service branch of the United States Armed Forces. It is one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and is designated as the Army of the United States in the U.S. Constitution.Article II, section 2, cl ...

and served for four years in the I Company, 186th Regiment, 41st Infantry Division. He was stationed in the Southwest Pacific territory that covered

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

New Guinea New Guinea (; Hiri Motu Hiri Motu, also known as Police Motu, Pidgin Motu, or just Hiri, is a language of Papua New Guinea, which is spoken in surrounding areas of Port Moresby (Capital of Papua New Guinea). It is a simplified version of ...

and the

Philippines The Philippines (; fil, Pilipinas, links=no), officially the Republic of the Philippines ( fil, Republika ng Pilipinas, links=no), * bik, Republika kan Filipinas * ceb, Republika sa Pilipinas * cbk, República de Filipinas * hil, Republ ...

. In 1946, Moyer married Marilyn Byrne; they had four children. Moyer's parents, Harry and Rose, owned a movie theater in Sellwood where Moyer worked and learned the theater business. In 1966, Moyer opened Eastgate Theater in Portland, the first multi-screen theater in the region. During the 1970s and 1980s, he grew the theater chain throughout Oregon,

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered o ...

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. N ...

and

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

. By 1989, he owned 298 screens, making the chain the nation's tenth-largest theater circuit at the time, and the largest privately owned theater circuit in the United States. Moyer also purchased much of the land that theaters were on and later leased the land back to the theaters, spurring his interest in real estate. In 1989, Moyer sold his theater circuit to Act III Cinemas (now

Regal Cinemas Regal Cinemas (also Regal Entertainment Group) is an American movie theater chain headquartered in Knoxville, Tennessee. A division of Cineworld, Regal operates the second-largest theater circuit in the United States, with over 7,200 screens i ...

) a year after his wife, Marilyn Moyer, died. In 2011, due to advanced age, he was declared legally incompetent. In 2012, it was reported that Moyer needed to designate a trustee for his real estate trust, because he was unable to fill that role any longer due to

Alzheimer's disease Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a neurodegeneration, neurodegenerative disease that usually starts slowly and progressively worsens. It is the cause of 60–70% of cases of dementia. The most common early symptom is difficulty in short-term me ...

. ''

The Oregonian ''The Oregonian'' is a daily newspaper based in Portland, Oregon, United States, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 185 ...

'' reported the week-long trial was "one of Portland's most high-stakes and emotional family squabbles." Tom Moyer died on November 28, 2014, at the age of 95.

TMT Development

In 1991, Moyer formed TMT Development, a

real estate development Real estate development, or property development, is a business process, encompassing activities that range from the renovation and re-lease of existing buildings to the purchase of raw Real Estate, land and the sale of developed land or parcels ...

and property management firm, in Portland. Moyer partnered to develop the 1000 Broadway Building in 1991. The Fox Tower was completed in 2000 and the Park Avenue West Tower, located next to

Director Park Director Park (officially Simon and Helen Director Park) is a city park in Portland in the U.S. state of Oregon. Opened in 2009 at a cost of $9.5 million, it covers a 700-space underground parking garage, which connects underground to the Fox T ...

, was completed in 2016. Moyer retired in 2010. Moyer's granddaughter, Vanessa Sturgeon, is currently President of TMT Development.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Moyer, Tom United States Army personnel of World War II Businesspeople from Portland, Oregon Boxers from Portland, Oregon 1919 births 2014 deaths American male boxers Philanthropists from Oregon 20th-century American businesspeople 20th-century American philanthropists