Ty Tabor passed away peacefully at home with his wife and daughter by his side on the morning of August 25, 2025 at the age of 80.

Born on January 13, 1945, to Mary and Walter Tabor in Springfield, Illinois. He was born while his dad was serving in World War 2 securing our freedom on the beaches of Normandy and at the Battle of the Bulge. After the war, they moved west to find work and better weather. Ty lived in a variety of places growing up but he always said that his most difficult challenge was not moving frequently but from having his mom gone to recover from tuberculosis in a sanitarium and not being allowed to visit her.  Most of his teen years were spent in Portland, OR graduating from Lincoln High School in 1962.

At 17 and at the height of the Vietnam War, he joined the US Coast Guard where upon telling his mother, she promptly threw a pan at him! In time, she realized that it was a good decision and kept him from being drafted. He loved his time serving in the USCG and this began his passion and love of the sea and boats. A theme that carried throughout his life.

After serving for four years, he used the GI Bill to attend Portland State University and then went to graduate school at the American Graduate School of International Management, Thunderbird School. His family was very proud that he was the first in his family to go to college. His first job out of grad school was working for AIG International in New York City living on Staten Island and taking the ferry to his office in Manhattan. He was then hired by Lincoln National Insurance Company and became a Group and Pension Manager in their San Francisco office and met lifetime friends, Mike Fulk and Gene Nueberger, during his time with Lincoln National.

He moved to Seattle in 1974 and continued his long sales career in the ever changing financial and health insurance industries. He was there for the beginning of PPOs, HMOs, Medicare Advantage plans and of course old fashioned traditional health insurance plans. A lot of the original company names from way back - Pacific Health, Group Health, King County Medical where he worked are all gone now due to market consolidation and changes in the industry.  Marketing and sales were his career passion and he took a keen interest in having his sales staff to learn, grow and improve their sales skills. He was considered an excellent boss and leader by many in his industry. The last seven and a half years of his career were spent at Kitsap Physicians Service in Bremerton, WA. While there, he was involved in the Washington Community Alliance for Self Help (CASH) and Leadership Kitsap (Class of 2006). It was some of his best and happiest years of his career working at KPS with his wonderful staff and colleagues.

He loved living in Seattle and met lifetime friends here. Bill Burke through handball and Mary Jo Drake through business where they loved to ski together and had many good times with her dear mom who he considered his second mom. He also frequented a downtown Seattle bar where a group of stockbrokers hung out and he met lifetime friends, Dick Farman and Nels Kasperson. When he moved into the Eastlake neighborhood, he met many good buddies at the old Hungry Turtle and remained close friends throughout the years.

He married Jamie McLean in 1992 and his daughter, Erin Rose, was born in 1995. He embraced fatherhood and loved being a dad. They moved to Edmonds, WA to raise Erin in 1997 and loved enjoying their family life in this coastal suburb. He enjoyed the Edmonds community and was a member at Harbor Square Athletic Club for over 20 years and was a well known patron at the local wine store and pizza place.

Ty pursued his passions at different points of his life. In his younger years, he loved to travel, ski, and play handball. He was an avid Huskies fan for over 40 years spending many fall Saturdays at the Huskies Stadium with his long time group of friends. In his retirement, he had more time to explore his interests. He took PCC cooking classes and spoiled us with delicious meals, he intensely studied Spanish and the stock market. He took time to read the classics and somehow managed to finish Tolstoy’s War and Peace and Anna Karenina! He also volunteered at Edmonds College as a tutor in the ESL program and enjoyed helping the international students understand our language.

One of his most rewarding pursuits was joining the US Coast Guard Auxiliary in 2007. Here he found a great group of people all interested in the sea and boating. In 2020, a group of them purchased a repurposed government boat that they named the Salish Guardian.  They assisted the Coast Guard with non-emergency details. He forged wonderful friendships and camaraderie swapping sea stories and having great adventures going through the Locks and around Puget Sound.

Ty was kind, generous and had a great sense of humor. He worked long hours during the week but was always home for his family on the weekends. He loved the finer things in life - good hotels, Moët champagne and DeLille wine, so we would joke that he should have been born a prince! We have wonderful family memories of our vacations usually on a beach in San Diego, CA, Seaside or Newport, OR or in later years Ocean Shores, WA. Anything to do with the water was his happy place. Nothing made him happier than being in a marina working on a boat, fishing with friends and his godson, sailing with Nels and Paula Kasperson, kayaking, and being a part of the Salish Guardian crew! He was true gentleman who will be dearly missed and never forgotten.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Edmonds Yacht Club on Saturday, October 18th at 12:00pm. Please join us to have lunch, share memories and toast to our beloved husband, father, friend and colleague. He loved a good party!