Thomas was going to be the guest of honor at this year's World Science Fiction Convention. He and Jan Merlin were real-life pals who regularly made convention appearences, and were proud of how important they were to many a fan's childhood. Incidentally, Tom Corbett was based on Robert Heinlein's novel Space Cadet (Heinlein was so aghast at the scripts, that he had his name taken off), and the technical advisor was none other than Willy Ley.
I loved the Tom Corbett show. I sure wish they were available on DVD. Sigh.
I am sorry Thomas has passed on. :-(
BTW, Space Cadet and Have Spacesuit Will Travel were two of my fav books back in grade school.