Thomas Hyndman, golfer

Thomas M. Hyndman, 64, a lifelong resident of Huntingdon Valley who was an insurance agent and a champion amateur golfer, died of pulmonary disease Thursday, April 29, at Abington Memorial Hospital.

Mr. Hyndman was winning golf tournaments by his early teens. In 1962, when he was 16, he won the Philadelphia District Boys Junior Golf Championship. His father, William Hyndman III, had won the championship 30 years earlier, when he was 16.

In the 1970s, Mr. Hyndman won two Hoffner Memorial Golf Tournaments at Sandy Run Country Club. At the time, sportswriters thought he would become a dominant player like his father, a two-time U.S. senior amateur champion. Instead, Mr. Hyndman ended his golf career in his mid-30s because of severe rheumatoid arthritis.

Mr. Hyndman graduated from Lower Moreland High School, where he played on the basketball and golf teams. He earned an associate degree in business from what is now Miami Dade College.

For 40 years, he was active in the insurance business, initially with William Hyndman III Insurance Agency in Rydal and later with Willis of Pennsylvania in Radnor. He retired in 2008.

Mr. Hyndman spent his vacations preaching the Christian gospel and performing mission work abroad, including in China and Russia. He was a member of Abington Presbyterian Church and in recent years a member of the Faith Community Church in Oreland.

Mr. Hyndman was a Philadelphia sports fan and a dog enthusiast, said his sister, Faith. He often accompanied her when she showed her prize Labrador retrievers, she said.

He was devoted to his family and was best friends with his mother and father, his sister said.

Mr. Hyndman is also survived by his mother, Virginia; a brother, William IV; two nephews; and two nieces. His father died in 2001.

Funeral services are private.

Memorial donations may be made to Abington Memorial Hospital, 1200 Old York Rd., Abington, Pa. 19001.