Thomas E. Gleed, 72, aide who oversaw special events for Mayor Anthony Masiello (2024)

When Buffalo Mayor Anthony M. Masiello needed someone to represent him on public occasions or oversee special events, the man he often turned to was Tom Gleed.

He took local Buffalo Sister Cities delegations to Kanazawa, Japan, and Siena, Italy. He oversaw the Buffalo Olmsted Parks Winterfest from 1994 to 2006.

Described by Buffalo News columnist Donn Esmonde as “a chatty, dapper man with a messy desk and a fondness for bow ties,” he also was called upon to orchestrate events on a large scale. He organized a town hall meeting in what was then Marine Midland Arena in 1999 with President Bill Clinton, Vice President Al Gore and their wives. He arranged the memorial and vigil in Niagara Square following the 9/11 attacks that was attended by 10,000 people.

He also coordinated the 165th celebration of Buffalo’s incorporation as a city in 1997, welcomed boats for the Sailabration at Erie Basin Marina in 2005 and was the mayor’s liaison to the LGBT community.

Since 2011, he had been a senior elections clerk for the Erie County Board of Elections. In a tribute, Elections Commissioner Jeremy J. Zellner described him as “the embodiment of public service,” adding: “Tom was truly a fixture in our party, always busy but never too busy to help at headquarters, walk petitions, and join us at countless events over the years.”

He died unexpectedly April 28. He was 72.

Born John Stephen Lewis in Fleur de Lys, Netherlands, Thomas Errol Gleed was adopted by Earl G. Gleed and Helen Mees Gleed, who were active in the East Aurora Country Club. He attended Immaculate Conception School in East Aurora, was a 1969 graduate of East Aurora High School and earned a bachelor’s degree in secondary education from then-Buffalo State College in 1973.

With partner Gary Stuart, he owned a men’s clothing store, Stuart Gleed, in Orchard Park in the late 1970s and early 1980s. After it closed, he became the resident custom shirt specialist at Peller and Mure men’s clothing store in downtown Buffalo.

Mr. Gleed was an ex-officio board member of the Erie County Democratic Committee and a former president of the Stonewall Democrats of Western New York. He was a campaign aide for then-Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

He was a former president of the Orchard Park Chamber of Commerce, the Greater Buffalo Opera Company and the Orchard Park Symphony Orchestra.

He lived in a historic home, Dogwood, built in 1840, that was featured on the Orchard Park Symphony tour of homes in 1982. After moving to Buffalo’s Allentown neighborhood, he was active in his block club.

He was a trustee of the Rainbow K School, a board member of the Miss Buffalo Scholarship Program and a board member and judge for the Kenny Awards, the annual high school musical theater awards .

He also sang with the Buffalo Gay Men’s Chorus, the City of Good Neighbors Chorale and the Orchard Park Chorale.

For several summers, he performed in the Cathedral Green next to St. Joseph Cathedral with former Common Council member Bonnie Kane Lockwood and city administrator David F. Granville in the Broadway to Buffalo shows. On a fantasy airplane ride with special needs children in 1997, he dressed as an elf and led the youngsters in Christmas carols.

In 2000, during a rally against child abuse on the steps of Buffalo City Hall, Mr. Gleed revealed his own history of abuse by “a relative who did things to him while his parents were not home,” Esmonde wrote in The News. After years of anguish, he said he turned to Alcoholics Anonymous in the mid 1980s and eventually told his parents he was gay.

“You say it,” he told Esmonde, “and it lets off all this steam. It was one of the best things I’ve done.”

Survivors include two sisters, Paula Daly and Charlene Bent-Mack; a brother, Charles Boutell, and many cousins, nieces and nephews.

A Mass of Christian Burial will be offered at 11 a.m. May 31 in St. Michael’s Catholic Church, 651 Washington St.