We were recently notified that Tom Marx passed on February 15th, 2026. Tom was a member of the Chicago Police Department, when he left in 1988 to become an instructor at the Smith & Wesson Academy. After several years of teaching full time both nationally and internationally, he shifted roles at S&W: first to a series of technical positions and then as Head of Domestic Law Enforcement Operations. He left S&W to organize a Law Enforcement Division for Michaels of Oregon as well as to help design much of their police-related duty gear. Leaving Uncle Mike's, Tom became Director of Intellectual Property for Blackhawk Products Group; focusing on the patent efforts for all of their divisions. Throughout the years, Tom lectured and instructed both inside and outside the US with such diverse groups as ILEETA, IALEFI, WIFLE, LETC, NDIA, the NRA, and Team One Network.
Tom's biographical information was compiled from a piece in Police One.