Thomas Kaub liked to cook, leap and travel

This story is part of Liked and Dropped, a statewide media collaboration functioning to rejoice the life of every single New Jersey resident who died of COVID-19. To master more and submit a cherished one’s name to be profiled, pay a visit to lovedandlostnj.com.

Tom Kaub packed a great deal of residing into his short stay on Earth, sharing his expertise, passion and appreciate about the world.

The youngest of 7 kids who built it from Scranton, Pennsylvania, to the New York phase, Tom invested the last 23 of his 52 a long time with Matt Madorsky, his spouse, traveling companion and fellow “adrenaline junkie.”

Roller-coasters escalated to sky-diving and bungee-leaping for the globe-trotting few, who located their way to places on virtually each continent, from London and Amsterdam to Vienna, Sydney, Queensland and his all-time preferred — New Zealand.

“We jumped off the Kawarau Gorge Suspension Bridge in New Zealand, which was the 1st official bungee-soar internet site in the entire world,” Madorsky said.

They met in Brooklyn sometime right after Kaub moved to the city, but experienced specified up his desire of performing stardom regardless of accumulating off-Broadway stage credits. As an alternative, he took an entry-amount occupation with Actor’s Equity, soaring to the position of contracts director for the national union.

Dwelling close to every single other and sometimes sharing a subway, they were being “common strangers” who ultimately fulfilled up in an AOL chat area, top to like, marriage and journey.

“What was wonderful about Tom and me was we could not have experienced additional of a diverse upbringing, but we have every little thing in typical,” Madorsky said.

They first bonded in excess of their really like for the musical “Hire.”

“We possibly observed it 30 situations,” Madorsky said. “He would produce me poetry, which is a little something I in no way seasoned. He was kind of like wooing me.”

They ended up bonded in civil union in 1998, married in 2017 and inevitably settled in Newark. Then it was off to see the planet.

“Our greatest passion was vacation,” Madorsky said.

Tiring of his occupation with the union, Kaub was adhering to one more passion he hoped may well guide to a new job — cooking.

“He needed to retire and develop into a chef,” Madorsky said. “He took some lessons but was not classically qualified. He taught himself a great deal from textbooks. He liked cooking Thai cuisine.”

There was communicate of opening a cafe or mattress-and-breakfast, but Kaub died on March 4, 2020. Due to the fact then, Madorsky has paid out tribute to his memory with a series of tattoos created to seem like luggage tags.