Thomas Mortimer Kastner, 98, of Lexington passed away Thursday, May 1, 2025, at his home, Cedar Hill, in Lexington. 

Born Sept. 30, 1926, in Wisconsin, he was the son of Mortimer Kastner and Edith Steudel Kastner. A 1949 graduate of the Naval Academy, he served 20 years in the U.S. Navy as a carrier pilot and later as a test pilot. In 1956, he married Marta Prochazka Herben, a political refugee from the former Czechoslovakia, whom he met in Monterey, Calif., while studying at the NavalPostgraduate School.  They had three children: Helena (born 1957, Jacksonville, Fla.), Katherine (born 1960, Oxnard, Calif.) and Paul (born 1963, Patuxent River, Md.). He also holds master of science in aeronautical engineering from the University Michigan and a postgraduate degree from the United States NavalWar College.  Among his many accomplishments during his Naval career, he assisted in building a museum-quality reproduction of the 1903 Wright Flyer. This replica was created in honor of the 60th anniversary of the Wright Brothers' first flight and exhibited at the Wright Brothers National Memorial in Kill Devil Hills, N.C.

After retiring with the rank of commander from the U.S. Navy in 1970, Thomas moved with his family to Long Island, N.Y., where he led the Flight Test Auto Telemetry Systems at Grumman Aerospace. He continued his association with aviation and the military by serving as a consultant for the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, WashingtonD.C., and the Institute for Defense Analysis, Alexandria.  He was an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Fellow (Chairman of Commission on flight tests 1972-1975, technical act committee 1975-1978) and member of The Society of Experimental Test Pilots. 

In 1988 he and Marta retired to Lexington, where they became active members of the community and caretakers of their beloved Cedar Hill. Among his many activities in Rockbridge County, Tom Kastner lectured in aero science at the Virginia Military Institute, served as director of the Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities, Rockbridge County Chapter, and as President of the VirginiaCanals and Navigation Society. For many years, he was also an enthusiastic participant in the James River Bateaux Festival. Throughout his life, he was dedicated to fighting for fairness and advocating for those who had been overlooked. In the late 1990s, he resurrected a 900-pound stone monument to Frank Padget, a skilled boatman and slave who lost his life leading the rescue of a group of 49 passengers and crew whose boat had been caught in raging water at Balcony Falls in Rockbridge County. He also petitioned Rockbridge to establish Jan. 21 as "Frank Padget Day" on the school calendar, to ensure that children would learn about his legacy. In partnership with the Rockbridge Historical Society, Preservation Virginia, the Rockbridge Area Genealogical Association, the City of Lexington, and Washington and Lee University, he personally conducted a census of the Lexington Oak Grove Cemetery that brought to light the graves of many lesser-known citizens who, he felt, deserve to be remembered not so much by their monuments as by their role and contributions to our present society. In addition to his community work, he was also an active sportsman, playing tennis well into his nineties, as well as an avid sailor and glider pilot.

Thomas and Marta Kastner are survived by their three children: Paul T. Kastner and his wife, Amanda, of Lexington/Baltimore; daughter Helena Reeder and her husband, Paul, of Columbia, Md.; and daughter Katherine Kastner of Prague, Czech Republic. They are also survived by six grandchildren: Amanda and her husband, Jordon Robinson; William Thomas Reeder; and Charles, John, Cecelia, and Jane Kastner; as well as three great-grandchildren: Jordon Tyler Jr., Juliana, Clara Robinson; and one plot hound, Jessie.

Arrangements were handled by Bolling, Grose & Lotts Funeral Home.