Thomas R. Hronek

Thomas R. Hronek

Hot Springs Village, Ark.

Tom Hronek passed from this world peacefully and with his family around him in Hot Springs Village, Ark., on July 8, 2023, after battling Parkinson’s Disease for over 10 years.

Tom was born in Vinton, Iowa, in 1947, later moved to Center Point, and ultimately to Cedar Rapids when his father passed away suddenly when Tom was twelve. He graduated from Regis High School and from Loras College in Dubuque with a sociology degree. In 1972, he graduated from Northwestern Law School, where he had studied on a full-ride scholarship from the McCormick Foundation. During his summers in college and law school, he worked at meat-packing plant, at Rockwell Collins and as an ambulance attendant.

Tom served two years as Assistant Iowa Attorney General. In 1974, he served as the founding Director of the Story County (Iowa) Legal Aid Society, which served low-income residents. In 1976, he went into private practice with Mauer, Terrill, Hronek & Dickson, practicing a wide variety of the law. In 1982, he was appointed to the bench as Iowa District Associate Judge, where he oversaw civil, criminal, and juvenile cases until 2010 when he was appointed Iowa Senior Judge. He retired in 2011. He often said that he was very lucky to work with great people in the law firm and in his judiciary capacity.

Tom remained on the Board of Story County Legal Aid Society and on the Board of Youth & Shelter Services. He was involved with Cub Scouts as his son Tanner’s Cub Scout den leader. He was involved in Kate Mitchell PTA projects, where he and Janet made lifelong friends.

Over the years, Tom looked forward to his annual fishing trips with his two best friends since high school. He loved hiking, camping and canoeing in the Boundary Waters, as well as exploring our National Parks, Civil War battlegrounds, American Indian battlegrounds and forts of every kind. He was an avid reader of nonfiction books and often joked that he alone funded the new (at the time) Ames Public Library with his overdue fines. He also enjoyed monthly dinners with their Ames gourmet club. Most of all, he enjoyed his time with family.

In 2011, Tom and his wife Janet retired to Hot Springs Village, Arkansas, in the Ouachita Mountains. Though Parkinson’s Disease prevented him from doing the golfing and fishing he had hoped for, he did love to go out to eat and to the movies with his great HSV neighbors.

Tom was a wonderful, loving son, brother, friend, husband, and father; and he will be greatly missed, especially his great sense of humor.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Robert and Mary Margaret Hronek; and his only sibling, Jim.

He is survived by his wife of 45 years, Janet; his son, Tanner (Lauren); his daughter, Amy; his brother Jim’s wife, Judy, and their children, Beth (Gary) and Bob (Kathy); as well as Janet’s siblings, Mark (Dorris), Lena, Mollie (John) and Shellie.

Tom asked that no service be held. Condolences may be sent to the family at Carrigan Memorial Funeral Services, 36 E. Grand Ave., Hot Springs, AR 71901.

The family would like to give special thanks to Kathy Packard of Oaklawn Center on Aging, Misty Parrish of Fit for Life’s Rock Steady Boxing classes and Arkansas Hospice for their tender, loving care and support.