Thomas Cory grew up in an environment where personal creativity and expression were encouraged.  As part of a family made up of musicians, a dancer, and singers; the freedom to explore and discover new means for self expression were always nurtured.

Family entertainment often included museums and classical concerts and even his earliest education focused on the Fine Arts and basic drawing skills as an integral part of general instruction.  While camping and hiking through California's Sierra Mountains, Thomas developed a passion for the State's vast and beautiful natural elements as well as a keen interest in their observation, which has translated into the subject material for many of his projects.

Thomas's real beginning in art as a profession was at the age of sixteen when he took a job as an architectural designer and draftsman.  It was this experience that led him to begin  college as an architectural student, eventually changing his major of studies to Fine Art.  He received his Bachelor's of Arts from Cal-State Hayward and his Master's of Fine Arts Degrees from the University of California Los Angeles and Lone Mountain College San Francisco.

Thomas has been influenced by several artists when developing his own style of painting .  Specifically, Corban Lepell, Wayne Thiebaud, Nathan Oliveira, James Peter Cost, and Robert Bateman have had an impact on his work as well as his graduate school mentors, Robert Brawley and Richard Diebenkorn.

In addition to painting, Thomas chose to pursue a full-time career in teaching and found this to be incredibly rewarding.  During the life of his career, he has taught in forums ranging from University to the Elementary School level.  After 36 years of dedication and commitment to teaching others, he retired from the Fremont Unified School District in June of 2005 and is now eager to utilize the opportunity to build his catalog of paintings and to be able to devote himself to painting and the exhibition of his work full-time.

Thomas Cory's paintings have been shown at several galleries over the past 38 years, including: Western Wildlife Galleries (Carmel and San Francisco) and Wildlife of the World Gallery (Carmel).

While in the military He was also commissioned by the United States Army (1970-1972) to paint a series of paintings depicting the 82nd Airborne Division, which was displayed at the 82nd Airborne Museum in Fort Bragg, North Carolina.