Obituaries

Past RA President Thomas Hartnett, 83

Longtime Reston resident served many roles in the community.

Former Reston Association president Tom Hartnett, 83, died July 26 at Reston Hospital, of respiratory failure. He also had Guillian-Barre Syndrome.

Hartnett was born in Seattle, Wash. He served in the U.S. Navy after high school and graduated from the University of Washington with a B.A in English.  

He served as the chairman of the IRS Commissioner's Art Advisory Panel, from 1968 until his retirement in 1983.  Hartnett moved to Reston in 1968.

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Among his many volunteer positions:  Board Member of the ; director and president of the and as a member of Useful Services Exchange.

In retirement, Hartnett participated in Learning in Retirement, later called the Osher Life-Long Learning Institute, where he founded the Readers' Theater.

He was an early member of the in Reston and later a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax.

Hartnett is survived by two nephews in Seattle, Washington, Dr. Donald Thomas Stewart and Scott Halladay Stewart; two great nieces; and seven great, great nieces and nephews; long-time companion Barbara Leigh Denton Berlage of Reston and her sons, Bradley Page Berlage of Chicago, IL, and Bruce Ladd Berlage of Columbia, MD.; and former wife Janet S. Hartnett of Washington, DC; and many devoted friends and colleagues.

A Memorial Service will be held  Saturday, Aug. 20, at 10 a.m. at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Fairfax, 2709 Hunter Mill Road, Oakton. In lieu of flowers, donations in Hartnett's memory may be sent to Osher Life-Long Learning Institute: Scholarship Fund for Reston Seniors; or WETA.


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