Iowa City’s Man Of Compassion – Thomas Walz.

The headline in The Daily Iowan said it all. Thomas Walz, 84, Professor Emeritus at The University of Iowa – author, volunteer, and noted wood worker, died after a battle with cancer on February, 10, 2018.

About a month after Walz’s death, in March 2018, writer Hani Elkadi wrote a beautiful article that described this humble Iowa Citian – calling him an American Gandhi.

“Idolizing Mahatma Gandhi’s philosophy, Tom Walz spent his life giving to others and making Iowa City a community where barriers between the community and its people with disabilities were removed. One of his favorite quotes was from Confucius: “Give a bowl of rice to a man and you will feed him for a day; teach him how to grow his own rice and you will save his life.” He also loved the words of Mother Teresa: “It’s not how much we give, but how much love we put into giving.” Hani Elkadi

Thomas Walz was born in Aitkin, Minnesota in 1933, the eldest of ten children born to Harold & Ione Walz. He received a BA degree from St. John’s University of Collegeville, Minnesota, and a Master’s in Social Work from St. Louis University. Tom met his wife of 60 years, Lisa, when he served as a member of the Armed Forces in Occupied Germany during the Korean War era. His commitment to a life of service began with his tenure as the first Peace Corps Director in Honduras from 1962-1964.

Following his stint with the Peace Corps, Tom returned to Minnesota, earning a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota, where he was, then, hired as a professor. In 1973, Walz received a job opportunity that would chart the course for the remainder of his life. Relocating to Iowa City, Tom served as the Director of the University of Iowa School of Social Work for five years (1973-1978), and then continued on as a full professor until his retirement from teaching in 2001.

It was during his years as Director of the UI School of Social Work (1973-1978) when Tom Walz hired a young man he had met back in Minnesota. The name was Barry Morrow, and it was through a job offer for Morrow that Tom was introduced to Barry’s good buddy – Bill Sackter. If you’re not familiar with the Bill Sackter story, you can read more here.

**Tom Walz** played a pivotal role in the life of **Bill Sackter**, whose story was told in a 1981 TV film – starring Mickey Rooney – that won two Golden Globe and two Emmy awards. Newly hired as dean of the UI School of Social Work (1973), Walz was trying to recruit former student **Barry Morrow** to join the university faculty. But Morrow, who lived in Minnesota at the time (1974), had met Sackter – a mentally disabled man who had lived for 44 years in a state institution – through happenstance and forged a friendship he wasn’t willing to abandon. So, if Morrow was to move to Iowa City, Sackter was destined to come as well! Read more here.

Morrow said Walz was an easy sell on the idea – even if it meant bending the rules and experimenting with job opportunities for Sackter, including one attempt at furniture refinishing that nearly burned down UI’s North Hall. “He was going to make it work,” Morrow said of Walz, noting they eventually found the ‘key to Bill’s success in making a pot of coffee.” In 1975, Walz and Morrow carved ‘**Wild Bill’s Coffee Shop**” out of unused space in North Hall, where Sackter worked until his death in 1983. Morrow documented the story in two movies – ‘Bill’ in 1981 and ‘Bill on His Own’ in 1983. Morrow, who later won an Oscar for his script of ‘Rain Man’ – read more here – said “Walz helped make the ‘Bill’ movies reality”.

“Tom just made that happen,” Morrow told *The Cedar Rapids Gazette*. “‘He let me avoid certain duties I had and concentrate on that project. ”Walz,” he said, “perceived all the good inside Sackter. Tom was a person who could see that. (Tom) was going to make a place for Bill in this world, even after I left, and protect him. And he did.”

Bill with Barry Morrow & Tom Walz – 1978. This pic was taken from Bill’s hometown newspaper – The Minneapolis Tribune – which published a big eight-page spread on Bill’s amazing story in October 1978. See that complete layout here.

After **Bill Sackter** died in 1983, **Tom Walz** was determined to keep **Wild Bill’s Coffee Shop** in North Hall alive and well. So, between 1983 and 2001, before Tom retired from teaching, he continued to be the visionary behind the coffee shop. With the popularity of the Bill Sackter story – as told through the two TV movies, and Tom’s book – **The Unlikely Celebrity – Bill Sackter’s Triumph Over Disability** – the UI School of Social Work in North Hall became a tourist spot that attracted Bill Sackter fans from around the country.

In 2001, after his retirement from teaching, **Tom Walz** started **Uptown Bill’s Small Mall**, located at **401 S. Gilbert Street**. The local writer/artist – **Hani Elkadi** – had a unique relationship with Walz, with both being admirers of St. Francis of Assisi, Rabindranath Tagore, Gandhi and Confucius. Their friendship grew stronger when Walz invited Hani and his art students of the Alternative Center to cover the walls and the doors of Uptown Bill’s with murals. Elkadi suggested that the project be shared with his staff, the volunteers and regulars who were predominantly people with disabilities, and in a loving atmosphere of collaboration, the team was able to finish the project in half the expected time. Two years after the unveiling of the monumental artworks (2003), Walz, Elkadi, and their team were shocked when the owner of the building decided to rent the facility to a corporation, and in a few dark hours, the owner painted over the 12 captivating murals with layers of cheap white latex, ending the legacy of the only facility in the city that offered music performances, art studios, poetry readings, a great library and small business shops run by people with disabilities. According to Elkadi, Walz never recovered from that enormous feeling of loss and remained until the end of his life agonizing over the severe disappointment that the young artists felt when their art was aggressively violated and trashed without regret. Upon its sudden closure, Uptown Bill’s Small Mall transitioned in 2003 to **Uptown Bill’s Coffee Shop** (see below), located at **730 S. Dubuque Street**. Sadly, Uptown Bill’s was forced to close in 2020 following the financial losses that befell so many businesses during the worst of the COVID-19 crisis, yet it was a tremendous success for nearly twenty years in Iowa City – a shining example of the potential to create businesses that erase the barriers between people with disabilities and the general public.

Here’s **Tom Walz** and **Bill Sackter** on tour in 1983. After the great success of the Bill Sackter story – as presented in the TV movie ‘Bill’ starring Mickey Rooney, Tom was invited to travel with Sackter on many speaking engagements, right up until the time of Bill’s death in June 1983.

Through the UI Alumni Association, Tom Walz founded several not-for-profit organizations serving persons with disabilities in the community, the Extend the Dream Foundation, the Disability Enterprise Foundation, and the Iowa Disability Creative Works Gallery and Mick’s Workshop – a furniture and carpentry business that helped fund these nonprofit endeavors. Walz also helped to start a School of Social Work branch in Des Moines, which has been in existence for more than 50 years. He also taught for the Sioux City social-work program for many years and helped to organize nursing-home workers on a state level.

Director of Uptown Bill’s Coffee House, Tom Gilsenan said this about Tom Walz…

‘I always think of Tom as a person – when he walks along, he’s kind of shooting off sparks of ideas, and you have to run because you can’t catch them all. But you try to catch a few, and then see if you can carry them out.”

UI Social Work Professor & long-time friend, Mercedes Bern-Klug, said this of Tom Walz…

“Over the years, Tom Walz did a lot with social work in Mexico, was a visiting professor in Russia, and had writing partners in India. During one of his trips to Calcutta, Tom stumbled upon Mother Teresa, and had a meaningful conversation that truly touched his life. Tom was fearless – he had an unusual collection of gentleness, compassion, smarts, creativity and chutzpah. If he wanted to do it, he did it.”

Health Director of Linn County Public Health, Pramod Dwivedi, said this…

“After visiting Mother Teresa in Calcutta, Tom and his students were on their way to Delhi where he was to collect some books as part of a will left by the renowned Gandhian scholar, Sugata Dasgupta. At a party at a professor’s house, I met Walz for the first time. I was inculcating some ambitious plans, preparing for a position in Indian Administrative Services, but at the same time, I had started applying to the U.S. universities. Walz asked me to also apply to Iowa — a place I had not heard of before. Walz promised to help me as much as he could. The conversation still reverberates in me; it cemented a relationship that has lasted until his death. Walz never veered from his promise, he wrote me regularly while I was still in India. He gave me immense encouragement, support and strength. And in 1991, he created a job for me in the School of Social Work, which allowed me to assist him with his Gandhi class. He wrote the sponsorship letter to the U.S. embassy in New Delhi, and before my arrival, Walz made arrangements for my stay, picking me up from the airport; pocketing me some money, and a bike to ride. I stayed in a dorm for two weeks and a week at Walz’s home before moving to my own apartment, which Walz paid rent on for a few months. When my wife arrived a year later, Walz secured a job for her and paid for the delivery and the parental care of our baby, Katha. Walz repeatedly told me that I can never pay him back for what he had done for me and my family. He always laughed it away. He never took credit for anything, never lived for himself.”

UI Graduate In Art & long-time friend, Maggie Burns, said this…

“We met seven years ago (2011) when I was volunteering at Uptown Bill’s for community service duty to pay off a legal fine. Walz came into my life at a time when I was at my lowest; a lifetime of alcoholism and mental illness left me feeling like a failure. When Tom met me, he saw only my potential and treated me respectfully as a competent person. Getting to know him was like magic, and my life ever since has blossomed with meaning and purpose.”

A long-time volunteer at Uptown Bill’s & good friend, Andrea Athey, said this…

“What I remember most about Tom Walz was his open-minded relationship with the service volunteers. It didn’t matter to him if you were fresh out of jail, or psych ward, or from another part of the world. If you find your way to Uptown Bill’s, Walz will feed you a couple of meals and put you to work — cleaning, organizing archives, serving coffee or making malts — you were welcome as long as you chipped in. Creating ambiance in the shop was something Walz considered important, so he invited artists to exhibit their work or make art with the staff and the regulars. Writers and poets were welcome to read their stories and recite their poems; bands and musicians came regularly to play their music and sing with the visitors. I was happy to see young social work students doing their internships there. Altogether, Walz encouraged an atmosphere of inclusion, of creativity, of community. When I look at the life of my late friend, Tom Walz, the one phrase that sparks in my mind is of St. Francis: “For it is in giving that we receive.”

*Uptown Bill’s Coffee Shop on Dubuque Street.*

As we mentioned earlier, Tom Walz died, at age 84, on February 10, 2018 in Iowa City. Tom and Lisa Walz had six children – Mark, Jennifer, Chuck, Ruth, Paul, and Paco. In December 2003, Ellen Buchanan of the Iowa City Library interviewed Walz. This fascinating video (30 minutes) gives us a lot of details about Tom’s amazing life – as given from his own perspective…

Finally, we close with these words about Tom Walz from his long-time friend, Hani Elkadi…

“Among Tom Walz’s guiding principles is a deep conviction in the inherent worth and dignity of all beings and immense respect for the unity and inter-connectedness of us all. This principle guided every task he took, every interaction he had, and every battle he waged.”