Architect for U.S. courts was devoted Capitals fan

Thomas Llewellyn Jenkins, 54, an architect with the federal court system who was such a rabid Washington Capitals fan that his photo appeared on the hockey team's season tickets, died Oct. 14 of esophageal cancer at Georgetown University Medical Center. He lived in Washington.

Mr. Jenkins, who had worked in the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts since 1992, was a season ticket holder and could often be seen in the third row behind the left faceoff circle.

"He had a boisterous personality," said his son, Neil Jenkins, 19, a student at Montgomery College in Rockville. "He wasn't afraid to cheer loudly. He made friends with everyone -- the woman who checks your tickets at the top of the stairs, the Caps' photographer, all the hard-core fans. He talked to everyone and made friends with everyone and kept those friends."

Mr. Jenkins wasn't a hockey player, although he once secretly took lessons to surprise his son, who could skate. He picked up his love of the sport from watching games on television while growing up in Williamsburg. After graduating from Virginia Tech, he moved to Boston, where cheering for the Bruins revived his interest. After he moved to Washington in the late 1980s, he found a new team to cheer. His son joined him in the stands in 1995.

He had been a member of the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums since 12, and he donated a handmade wood rope-tensioned Cooperman field snare drum to the organization.

During his career, he worked for a number of private-sector architecture/engineering firms, including Shepley Bulfinch Richardson and Abbott in Boston and Mariani and Associates and Ellerbe Becket in Washington before joining the federal court system.

As supervisory architect for the U.S. courts, he completed projects in Guam and eight states, including the Orlando federal courthouse. He received a number of awards from his office. He served on the National Institute of Building Sciences' advisory board for the Whole Building Design Guide.

His marriage to Clare D. Salb ended in divorce.

In addition to his son, of Washington, survivors include a brother.

-- Patricia Sullivan