In Loving Memory of
Tom Erickson
of Portland, OR
01/09/1971 – 05/25/2026
Born in Costa Mesa, CA, Tom lived nearly 30 years throughout California. Much of his childhood and young adulthood was spent in the Greater Los Angeles area – Burbank, La Crescenta, Glendale, Hollywood and Los Angeles, followed by years in Santa Cruz and an eventual move to the Pacific Northwest where he spent his last two decades in Seattle, WA and Portland, OR, respectively.
Tom was a skateboarder, snowboarder, mountain biker, runner, outdoor enthusiast, innovator, lover of history, photographer, entrepreneur, craftsman, designer and a lifelong musician. His creative pursuits in music, business and through his hobbies – whether thrifting or salvaging and renewing vintage industrial piece or cars and trucks — gave him deep satisfaction and personal meaning.
Throughout his life, he enjoyed many phases of career entrepreneurial achievements. He had a remarkable eye for quality craftsmanship and a deep respect for heritage manufacturing and production techniques. This was coupled with his uncanny ability to identify a retail trend, decades before something became a fad. His first retail enterprise was the launch of SOLAR clothing in Santa Cruz, CA where his clothing line featured high quality hemp-based manufacturing. Later after a move to Portland, Oregon, he launched the reputable Animal Traffic and Annex clothing and shoe stores, which received international recognition as a “must visit” locations for sourcing unique vintage clothing, new US made high end clothing and shoe lines that featured heritage textile manufacturing techniques.
Tom’s deepest personal love and sense of purpose was always found in his music. After receiving his first guitar and amplifier as a pre-teen, throughout his life his musical composition, his guitars and later his drum sets became sources of inspiration, personal fulfillment and catharsis. Over the years he performed in multiple bands up and down the west coast including Oliver Twist in Los Angeles during the 1990s and later Dear Ether in Seattle and Portland.
Above all else, Tom is remembered for his kind heart, and the genuine curiosity and care he showed those he chose to have in life.
Tom had a long-standing care and concern for the well-being of children and youth, especially those served by the foster care system. In honor of his final preferences his family requests that those who are able, honor Tom’s memory, through donations of volunteer time, goods or funding to non-profit organizations serving youth in foster care. Suggestions include Project Lemonade https://www.projectlemonadepdx.org/get-involved or Boys and Girls Aid https://www.boysandgirlsaid.org/donate or https://www.boysandgirlsaid.org/birthday-club.
In honor of Tom’s final wishes, no formal memorial service will be held. Rather his friends and loved ones are encouraged to gather or celebrate his life in whatever way feels meaningful and authentic to their relationship with him: through a meal, a drink, a laugh, an outdoor adventure, a road trip, a jam session, a quest for a rusty run-down classic truck to restore, or being in service to others in need.
