Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, WI) - March 28, 1999
Deceased Name: THOMAS FARLEY, COMEDIAN'S FATHER, DIES
Thomas Farley, a lifelong Madison resident and father of the late actor-comedian Chris Farley, died Saturday at Meriter Hospital of kidney failure. He was 63.

He was admitted to Meriter last Sunday after a fall, and kidney problems were later discovered, said his son, Tom Farley.

''It was definitely unexpected,'' he said of his father's death.

Thomas Farley was president of Scotch Oil Co., a Madison business founded by the Farley family in the 1930s, from 1970 until his retirement in December 1997.

He was a village of Maple Bluff board member in the late 1970s and early 1980s and ran unsuccessfully for the Madison School Board in 1977.

Since Chris Farley's death in December 1997 of an accidental overdose of morphine and cocaine, Thomas Farley had been a board member of the Rebos' Chris Farley House in Madison. Rebos provides transitional housing for newly sober men recovering from alcohol or drug dependencies.

The Chris Farley Foundation, established by Thomas Farley and his wife of 40 years, Mary Anne Farley, has supplied Madison schools with anti-drug posters.

Thomas and Chris Farley were kindred spirits who shared ''good Irish humor,'' Tom Farley said. ''If dad wasn't raised in the refined 1950s, he would have been Chris all over again.''

A funeral reception is scheduled for 9:30 a.m. Wednesday at Queen of Peace Catholic Church, on the 4200 block of Mineral Point Road. Mass will follow at 11 a.m.

Thomas J Farley