Tom Riley

Tom Riley (January 9, 1929 – July 21, 2011) was an American lawyer from Cedar Rapids, Iowa who served two terms in the Iowa House of Representatives and four in the Iowa Senate.

Background Riley was born in Cedar Rapids

During his time in the legislature, he sponsored a bill on equal representation in state reapportionment, the state fair housing law, and a bill outlawing discrimination in employment due to age, race, religion, or national origin. He served as a delegate to and co-sponsor of the Fourth World Conference on World Peace through Law in Bangkok in 1969. He chaired the Governor's Advisory Committee on Aging 1964-65, and the Governor's United Nations Day Committee in 1972. He served on the State Commission on Aging from 1971-73.

Legal career Tom Riley founded the Tom Riley Law Firm in 1980. The mission of the firm is to seek justice for those who have been injured or damaged by the wrongful acts of others. With this focus, the firm has grown from three lawyers at the time of its founding to its present size with offices in Cedar Rapids and Iowa City, Iowa. Over the years, the Tom Riley Law Firm has represented thousands of clients and obtained more than $300,000,000 in recoveries on their behalf.

Tom Riley and Todd Becker pioneered nationwide litigation against tampon manufacturers whose products caused injury or death by toxic shock syndrome in women. Their landmark case, Kehm v. Procter & Gamble, 724 F.2d 630 (8th Cir. 1983), became the subject of Tom Riley’s book, The Price of a Life: One Woman’s Death From Toxic Shock (Adler & Adler 1986), and a chapter in the book, Soap Opera: The Inside Story of Procter & Gamble (Random House 1993), by Wall Street Journal reporter Alecia Swasy (Random House 1993).

Personal life He married Nancy Evans, whom he'd met while they were both students at the University of Iowa, in 1952; they had six children. He wrote four books: Response to Crisis (1968), Proving Punitive Damages (1981), The Price of a Life (1986) and Iowa’s Civil Litigation Handbook (1997). He is the grandfather of actress Molly Brown. He died July 21, 2011.

Charity Tom and his wife, Nan, donated an extensive collection of Roman portrait busts to the Cedar Rapids Museum of Art. In addition to the Roman busts, Mr. Riley shared his private art collection with the museum for an exhibition called "From Monet to Picasso: The Riley Collection".

Tom and Nan Riley also gave to Camp Courageous, donating a train taking campers to the camp's lake, as well as the Tom & Nan Riley Court, a basketball court for the campers for various activities.