During his childhood, he attended Troy Savings Bank Music Hall,[1] and later The Albany Academy before coming to Princeton University where he majored in the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs and wrote his dissertation on the "U.S. Foreign Policy and the Schuman Plan".
[1] That pledge eventually led to Maurice Ferré dropping two advisors from his campaign for racist attack against his rival Marvin Dunn.
[1] In 1998, Thomson represented Gianni Versace family, winning injunction following reports of stolen autopsy photos of the slain fashion designer.
The settlement was then signed by Teresa Earnhardt and the U.S. Supreme Court in 2001, which granted news organizations expert permission to examine the photos without making them public.
[3] As a philanthropist, Thomson led a drive to create the $300 million Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami, which opened in 2006.