Tom Taormina, esteemed quality consultant and long-time contributor to Quality Digest, has passed away. He is survived by his wife, Midge, and their three children. Recently, Taormina was working with Quality Digest and a consortium of others to design a certified training program for quality professionals, called “Quality Master,” a five-level program to address the future needs of the profession.

Taormina was an expert in the ISO 9000 series of standards as well as an expert witness in product liability and organizational negligence. He wrote 20 books on the beneficial use of standards, and worked with more than 700 companies throughout his career. In fact, he was one of the first quality control engineers at NASA’s Mission Control Center during the Gemini and Apollo projects.

Jeff Dewar, Quality Digest CEO, shared his thoughts on the man whose influence so profoundly shaped the quality industry.

“Working with Tom was a challenge. At times I thought he was flat-out nuts. His ideas seemed like they were from another galaxy. Quality as a profit center? ISO 9001 could be transformed into an overall model for managing a business? Risk could be sidestepped rather than just managed? Please. 

“My inability to see his genius was my failure—my imaginative limitations, my parochial view of quality. 

“Slowly, steadily, patiently, he turned me into a convert, a disciple, a believer. 

“We continue his work, and will launch the training program that he envisioned based on his half-century in quality. We stand on the shoulders of a great man who was always a couple of decades beyond his time.”

From left: Tom Taormina, Steven Garner, and Jeff Dewar at the 2023 ASQ Quality Audit Division Conference.

Steven Garner, quality leader and esteemed Quality Digest colleague and author, was also kind enough to share his thoughts on Taormina—the man, his work, and the legacy he left.

“We’re saddened to say goodbye and pay respect to our friend, mentor, and inspiration, Tom Taormina. He passed away two weeks ago, and we wish his family peace and comfort.

“Though I knew Tom for only a few years, he became more than just a business partner. He initially connected with me on LinkedIn to discuss transitioning ISO 9001 from a quality management system (QMS) to a business management system (BMS). Tom highlighted how many companies view quality as an overhead expense, and ISO certification merely as a formality.

“As a quality director, I shared my frustrations about how quality departments often focus solely on defect inspection rather than taking a deep dive into process improvement. Tom wanted us to champion business process excellence instead of being mere gatekeepers of quality. We agreed that ISO 9001 outlined QMS requirements but lacked guidance on integrating departments into a unified system.

“Together, along with Jeff Dewar, we introduced concepts like Forensic Business Pathology, Quality as a Profit Center, and creating an enterprisewide business management system to manage all business processes cohesively. Jeff and I plan to continue with Tom’s legacy and bring his plans for quality professionals to fruition. We miss you, brother.”

Taormina’s legacy

During almost 65 years as an expert in quality assurance, Taormina worked with more than 700 companies, beginning as an electronics technician for Philco, the prime contractor to NASA’s Mission Control Center in Houston. His CEO at the time asked if he would be interested in leading the quality assurance effort there. Initially, this simply meant inspecting for and reducing defects, rather than trying to eliminate their causes.

‘We stand on the shoulders of a great man who was always a couple of decades beyond his time.’
—Jeff Dewar, CEO, Quality Digest

For the next 10 years, Taormina specialized in audits and acceptance tests at suppliers’ facilities. At the time, the ISO 9000 family of standards didn’t exist. Instead, the electronics and general manufacturing industries used MIL-STD-105C and NHB5300.4 1B. It didn’t take long to realize that these standards didn’t make a lot of sense, so Taormina devised an auditing system that was based on their quality management standards, focusing on determining whether they were following their own procedures.

Bringing skills in problem diagnosis, strategic thinking, and effective communication to his roles as a quality consultant, trainer, and liability avoidance expert, he participated at the Mission Control Center during the Apollo 13 accident and recovery. His experiences at NASA over 14 years provided a foundation for quickly analyzing problems and diagnosing solutions.

This expertise supported his work as a business consultant and expert witness in products liability and organizational negligence. In these roles, Taormina performed strategic business assessments, root cause analyses, process planning, quality management, and risk assessments for various companies. As an expert in products liability and organizational negligence, he assessed defendant companies to determine whether they adhered to appropriate standards of care. His proprietary methodology, Forensic Business Pathology, is recognized by trial attorneys and judges.

Taormina also had more than 65 years of experience as a licensed amateur radio operator. Over the decades, he built and rebuilt stations at the cutting edge of performance. He was a competitive contestant who earned the top spot in the American Radio Relay League Sweepstakes, the largest membership association of amateur radio enthusiasts in the United States. He was instrumental in creating the North American QSO Party (NAQP) and was inducted into the CQ Contest Hall of Fame.