Minnery was the senior editor of Christianity Today while Billy Graham was still hands-on at the magazine. He served for years as the senior vice president of public policy at Focus on the Family under both Dr. James Dobson and Jim Daly. He was president emeritus of the Family Policy Alliance until Christmas Eve, when he unexpectedly passed away.
Gary Bauer of American Values says Minnery was at the center of many of the policy decisions that kept the pro-family movement relevant and successful.
"We spent many, many hours in meetings drawing out the defense of faith, family, and freedom," he recalls.
Minnery is also remembered as "a very soft-spoken man" who practiced self-control and remained on task.
"He was a hard-as-rock warrior for our cause, and I can't think of a better man to be in a foxhole with if you have to be in a foxhole," Bauer adds.
Carrie Gordon Earll was one of Minnery's managers at Focus on the Family and took his post when he left the ministry. She says she never had a better boss.
"This was a man who was seminary trained, he was a history buff, [and] he had a witty, witty sense of humor," she shares. "Loyal beyond fault, loved and defended his staff -- he always looked for the best in people. He called you up to what you could be."
Tom Minnery did not have a Wikipedia page, and he was rarely quoted in the papers. Not many people outside his family and the pro-family movement would have recognized his name.
"Tom was not someone who looked for the applause," says Earll. "He looked for the results."
Minnery passed away in Albuquerque, New Mexico from a severe head injury after slipping on some ice.
