Shrewsbury – Tom Fiore, 81, formerly of Shrewsbury, passed away peacefully Dec. 9, 2020 at Cape Cod Hospital after a nine-year battle with Multiple Myeloma. He leaves behind his wife of 63 years, Jo-Anne Fiore, and his mini-dachshund, Beau.
Tom was a proud father of three. He leaves Lisa Giacoppe and her husband Charles of Shrewsbury, Carol Essex and her husband Christopher of Gulf Breeze, Fla., and Thomas Fiore and his wife Shawna of Shrewsbury. He was the grandfather of Kymberlee Parker (Kieran Patrick), Jillian, Katelyn, and T.J. (Thomas Jr.) Fiore, and Nicholas, Christian Layne, Harrison, and Kincade Essex, and leaves his great-granddaughter, Eleanor Parker, born this year and with whom he shared a birthday. Tom is also survived by his brother, David Fiore and his wife Janet of New Hampshire.
At a young age, Tom became passionate about cars, working as a mechanic at Harr Ford in Worcester before opening his business, Fiore’s Truck Sales, Inc., in Shrewsbury in 1963. Tom worked tirelessly for nearly 30 years, eventually reducing his hours before selling his business to his son Thomas in 1993. The business is still operating at the same Route 9 location.
Tom was a master mechanic, and refurbishing classic cars was a passion he pursued throughout his life. In the last ten years, Tom fully restored four cars, including a ’37 Chevy Coupe and a ’40 custom Ford pickup. Tom was active in the Cape Cod Classic Car Club, attending rallies and showing the cars he lovingly restored.
During his 20s, Tom also served in the Massachusetts Army National Guard for three separate commitments as a rifle sharpshooter and cook. His culinary skills from this time were only the beginning of a love of cooking. He had a masterful handle on Italian classic recipes, and he loved to cook for his friends and family, often hosting holidays and cooking enough to feed everyone twice.
Tom and Jo-Anne loved to vacation on Cape Cod, bringing their young family to Race Point Beach in Provincetown to camp in their Beach Buggy. Tom was a member for many years of the Massachusetts Beach Buggy Association. The ocean and boating were always a part of Tom’s life, and he loved fishing. Later in retirement he found another hobby in golf. During their retirement, Tom and Jo-Anne split their time between southern Florida and Cape Cod, never far from the ocean.
Tom loved to be outdoors, and was also an avid gardener. He turned his hobby into a well-known local business, Cove Gardens, in the 1990s based out of his home on the town cove in Eastham. He grew lettuce, tomatoes, berries and more on a quarter-acre farm that he sold to local farm stands. Tom and Jo-Anne regularly attended local Farmer’s Markets where they sold vegetables and seedlings, and they had an avid following of customers who loved to pick Tom’s brain for his gardening advice. Tom maintained a beautiful garden at his home in Harwich all the way through his battle with cancer, and he shared his lettuce, tomatoes, and gardening advice with all.
He was a talented and engaging storyteller with a wicked sense of humor and a “way with words,” and will be sorely missed by his family and friends. If you ever had the opportunity to meet Tom, you will always remember Tom.
Tom’s family would like to thank Dr. Omar Nadeem and his team at Dana Farber Cancer Institute’s Multiple Myeloma Center and the staff at the Cape Cod Hospital’s Mugar Cancer Center.
Services will be private due to COVID restrictions.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Tom’s name to Dana Farber at www.dana-farber.org/how-you-can-help/ways-to-give.
