User:Loveack/Thomas K. McDonough

Thomas (Tom) K. McDonough was most notably known for being the series Writer and Director of The Letter People. Tom was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and attended Padua Franciscan High School as a member of their first graduating class. After graduation, Tom attended and graduated from Kent State University where he majored in mass communications and English Literature. While attending KSU, Tom worked for the local PBS affiliate, WVIZ where he was a booth announcer. After graduation, Tom taught English and Drama at Marymount High School while still at WVIZ.

Ultimately, Tom became a writer, producer, and director and began work on an educational series called Inside/Out, which was produced by the National Instructional Television Center (NIT), ran for 30 episodes and in 1974, Tom, along with the entire production team won an Emmy Award for ‘Outstanding Instructional Children's Programming’. Tom joined KETC-TV in St. Louis, Missouri in 1973 and also began work on The Letter People. He is credited with directing 38 episodes and writing 23 episodes of the 60 episode series.

In 1975, Tom and long-time collaborator, Jeff Jones, created McDonough-Jones Productions in St. Louis. They were known for their imaginative, quality commercials that included clients such as IBC Root Beer, Blue Cross/Blue Shield, Bud Light, Coors Beer, and Rexall. After 10 years of enormous success in St. Louis, McDonough-Jones made the decision to relocate its offices to Chicago in 1985, where at the time they were the nations’ most active producer of Sears-Roebuck commercials, turning out more than 50 commercials for them the previous year. Tom passed away on December 30, 2022 surrounded by family.