Tom LaBonge
Guest User
By Past PPAGLA President
John McCoy
Press photographers in Los Angeles lost a true friend with the passing of former Los Angeles City Councilman and PPAGLA honorary member, Tom LaBonge at the age of 67.
One of the driest photo assignments a shooter ever pulls is having to cover a press conference. But when LaBonge was on the press release, you knew that he would exhibit some kind of over the top showmanship that would surely make an interesting frame.
One afternoon on the south Lawn of City Hall, Tom looked out the window of his office and saw a horse that was part of a fellow councilmembers plans for a press conference. Never missing the opportunity for a photo opportunity, Tom reached up onto the wall of his office that was festooned with hundreds of hats, and pulled down a white Stetson Cowboy hat and made his way to the south lawn. Upon reaching the grass, Tom climbed up on the horse for a photo opportunity that and surpassed any potential ideas held by his late arriving, and outwitted colleague.
Tom always enjoyed the creativity of photography, and could be found in the early 1970’s roaming the sidelines of the Los Angeles Coliseum at Rams games as a camera assistant for NFL films. As a City Councilman, Tom traveled his district with a camera and would publish his best work in a calendar.
To begin his career in politics, Tom became a council aide for Peggy Stevenson, Councilwoman of the 13th Council District in 1976. After 15 years as a council aide, a field deputy and as the chief of field operations for Richard Riordan, he finally seized a chance to take a seat as a councilman after winning a special election to replace the deceased John Ferarro in 2001. He held that post until retirement in 2014.
Tom loved public service, and made friends wherever he went. He knew the school mascot for every high school in the southland, and looked for ways that he could be of assistance in the city he loved. He viewed his job as being a kind of customer service, and would stop to clean clogged street drain on a rainy day, or pull off to the side of the road to direct traffic at the scene of an accident. If your car wouldn’t start, Tom was always ready with jumper cables that he kept in the trunk of his city issued Crown Victoria.
From Koreatown to the San Fernando Valley and the trails of Griffith Park, Tom was usually somewhere making his presence known. Feeling that he wanted to continue doing civic good works in retirement, he founded The LaBonge Consulting Group, which he described on his LinkedIn page as an extension of "my ability to create relationships and connect people with the common goal of fortifying the cultural ties of this great city."
The former politician and lensman leaves behind his wife Brigid and two children, Mary-Cate LaBonge and son Charles.