Tom Shadden, a well-known Long Beach yachtsman who cofounded the Aquatic Capital of America Foundation and also helped establish the United States Sailing Center in the city, has died. He was 90.
The cause of death wasn’t immediately known.
Shadden, who died at Hoag Hospital in Newport Beach late last month, was a senior vice president at Morgan Stanley, but his passion was helping his community — particularly when it came to the water. The longtime Long Beach resident spent years working to fulfill his vision for Long Beach as the Aquatic Capital of America, a well-deserved title considering the city has produced more aquatic Olympians, world record holders and national champions than any other in the country.
“I enjoyed my discussions with Tom over the past 10 years,” said Lucy Johnson, a founding board member of the Aquatic Capital of America Foundation, “and will miss his wisdom and foresight.”
Long Beach yachtsman Tom Shadden, shown here in an undated photo, died on May 31. He was 90. (Courtesy of the Long Beach Yacht Club) Waterman Tom Shadden at his 90th birthday celebration. (Photo by Jo Murray, Grunion Gazette/SCNG) Tom Shadden stands next to his Long Beach Cenutry Club Keith Cordes Award during the 58th annual Century Club Banquet at the Grand on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014. ///ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: lbr.centuryclubbanquet.0206 – 2/4/14 – JOSH MORGAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER – ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER – Long Beach athletes gather for the 58th annual Century Club Banquet at The Grand on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014. /// Tom Shadden stands next to his Long Beach Cenutry Club Keith Cordes Award during the 58th annual Century Club Banquet at the Grand on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014. ///ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: lbr.centuryclubbanquet.0206 – 2/4/14 – JOSH MORGAN, STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER – ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER – Long Beach athletes gather for the 58th annual Century Club Banquet at The Grand on Tuesday, Feb. 4, 2014. /// Show Caption1 of 3Long Beach yachtsman Tom Shadden, shown here in an undated photo, died on May 31. He was 90. (Courtesy of the Long Beach Yacht Club) ExpandThomas Everett Shadden was born Nov. 26, 1934, in Los Angeles. His father died during World War II, so he was raised by a single mother.
Shadden attended a military school during his youth and then went to Cal State Long Beach. While at CSULB, he was also the founding president of Phi Sigma Epsilon, a chapter of the National Sales and Marketing Fraternity; and president of the Society for the Advancement of Management.
After graduating from CSULB with a business degree, Shadden attended the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. He graduated with a master of business administration.
He then joined the U.S. Army, for which he was stationed in Heidelberg, Germany.
After getting out of the Army, Shadden embarked on his career — eventually making his way to Long Beach.
Early in his career, in the 1960s, he hosted investment presentations at the Masonic Temple in Compton and over the years, he continued to build his financial advisory practice. He retired as senior vice president of Morgan Stanley — a firm that is consistently ranked one of the top 150 private wealth management teams in the country — after 42 years.
But Shadden was also invested in his community.
He served on philanthropic boards in Long Beach, including a long affiliation with MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center and its nonprofit foundation, for which he served as director and was a past president.
Shadden was also the director of the Long Beach Medical Center’s Heart and Vascular Institute and a board governor for the Sea Festival of Long Beach.
And then there was his passion for aquatics — particularly sailing.
He joined the Long Beach Yacht Club in 1968, which sparked that passion. Seven years later, in 1975, Shadden served as chair of the Congressional Cup, the granddaddy of match racing. He was the LBYC commodore in 1980 and received the LBYC’s prestigious Richard Loynes Trophy — essentially a yachtsman of the year award — twice.
“Tom Shaden was an incredible man,” said Scott Dixon, LBYC’s 2024 staff commodore and a board member for the Aquatic Capital of America Foundation. “He truly cared about our community, the people who live here and the children that would be the future of Long Beach. He was always willing to share his rich history here in Long Beach and how to make it a better place where locals love to say they live and visitors love to visit.”
In 1975, Shadden and David Crockett Sr. reinvented the California International Sailing Association — which formed four years earlier tho fund a California entry in the 1974 America’s Cup — to supports amateur sailors by providing travel grants for regional, national and international competitions, and by funding local sailing programs and racing clinics. In 1978, Shadden and Crockett established the CISA Advanced Racing Clinic — which has built a legacy as the premier youth training event in the country.
Shadden’s love of water sports is also what led him to try to bolster Long Beach as the Aquatic Capital of America.
He and a group of his friends spent two years researching and proved what many of us had long believed: Long Beach had produced more Olympians, world record holders and national champions in virtually all aquatic sports than any other city in the country.
His vision was for the city to acknowledge this and use “Aquatic Capital of America” as a designation for Long Beach and the Convention and Visitors Bureau in marketing materials promoting the beach town as both a tourist destination and a location for the various aquatic sports organizations hosting major competitions, according to Johnson.
A formal request for that designation went before the City Council in 2008. The City Council OK’d referring to Long Beach as the Aquatic Capital of America.
Later that year, Shadden founded and became president of the Aquatic Capital of America Foundation, a nonprofit that started funding free swim lessons for underserved youth through a local YMCA. That program is called “Waterproof Our Youth.”
But Shadden didn’t stop there.
Shadden, along with Chuck Korber, founded the United States Sailing Center in Long Beach; that facility is a training site to help sailors fulfill their Olympic dreams. Over the years, Shadden, along with the Long Beach nonprofit Pacific Coast Sailing Foundation, has helped the waterfront venue evolve into a true center of training for sailors of every ability and from all parts of our community.
“I am blessed to have worked with Tom on projects in our community with the Long Beach Yacht Club and the Aquatic Capital of America,” Dixon said. “I am grateful for his friendship and for teaching me to put others first in everything you do.”
Shadden, who died on May 31, is survived by one son, one daughter and multiple grandchildren. Shadden was preceded in death by his wife, Sandie, and his son William, who died on the same day in 1993.
His family will hold services in August — the month the Shadden clan traditionally spends together.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the US Sailing Center, the Long Beach Sailing Foundation or Aquatic Capital of America‘s swim program.
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