[2][3] Thomas C. Perry was born on April 6, 1941, in Batavia, New York, the son of Esther Buchele and Marlo Perry,[4] a former Akron village trustee and mayor[1] who was a 1935 graduate of Cornell University.
[2][5] He attended high school in Akron, New York, and later graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in food science with a focus on dairy business.
He spearheaded the design for a new ice cream plant, which tripled Perry's production capacity.
[2] He stepped down as president in 1994, and retired as chief executive officer in 2000, and was succeeded by Robert Denning, his son-in-law.
Together, they were the parents of:[2] Perry died, aged 76, on June 4, 2017, after a lengthy illness.