Tom was born on August 24, 1932 in Columbia, Missouri to James E. and Virginia M. Wirt.
He graduated from Columbia Hickman High School and received a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Missouri where he was a member of Chi Epsilon, honorary Civil Engineering Fraternity. He served as a Lt. in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers where he participated in the construction of radar and rocket launching facilities for the International Geophysical Year at Fort Churchill, Canada in the 1950''s. He was also an instructor at the engineer officer''s school at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia.
Tom was employed by the Bureau of Reclamation in Grand Junction, Colorado before going to work for Dondlinger and Sons Construction Co. of Wichita, Kansas as a construction engineer. He opened an office for Dondlinger in Springfield in 1964 and started The Wirt Corporation in 1974, retiring in 2000.
Over the years his organization has built many industrial, commercial, and religious facilities in the Springfield area including the Zenith and 3M plants, Southwest Sewage Treatment Plant, Blackman Water Treatment Plant, Hammons 22 story, 15 story and 10 story buildings, the $28 million expansion of Cox Medical Center South, the 8 story Plaza 11 office building at Cox South and the bridge over National Ave., Central Assembly of God Sanctuary, Praise Assembly Sanctuary and Ridgecrest Baptist Sanctuary as well as several projects at MSU and Dillon''s super markets. He served on the Board of Directors of the Springfield Contractors Assn for over 30 years and was president of that organization three different times. He also served on the boards of the Chamber of Commerce, Junior Achievement, The Safety Council of the Ozarks, and the Ronald McDonald House of the Ozarks. He was a member of Kingsway United Methodist Church and also delivered meals for the South Side Senior Center.
Tom flew his airplane for 30 years, was a WWII history enthusiast, loved Blue Grass music, gardening, and fishing in Canada, Mexico and the Missouri lakes and streams.
He is preceded in death by his wife, of 56 years, Betty Mae (Foster) Wirt, in December 2008 and is survived by daughters Kathy Luginsky and Beverly Flavin and sons James Wirt and wife Claire, and Kenneth Wirt, granddaughters Kelly (Luginsky) Dinkins, Bayley Flavin and Sarah Wirt, and grandsons Bryan and Scott Flavin.
Services will be held at 2pm on Saturday April 2, 2016 at Klingner-Cope at Rivermonte Chapel. Burial will follow in Rivermonte Memorial gardens.
In Lieu of flowers the family would like donations to be made to Meals on Wheels and The Ronald McDonald House of the Ozarks.