Thomas used his financial acumen to help build ConAgra Inc. into one of the world’s biggest food companies and one of Omaha’s most significant employers. After obtaining a master’s degree in finance, Thomas went to work in 1960 at Nebraska Consolidated Mills, then a small grain company with annual sales of $50 million. In those early years, he served as the company’s finance department and personnel department, ran a mill in Sheridan, Wyoming and helped clean the offices on Saturdays. In 1969, he became the company’s vice president of finance and added the titles of treasurer in 1974 and corporate secretary in 1991, effectively serving as a key right-hand man to ConAgra’s CEO. By the time Thomas retired in 1996 after 36 years with the company, ConAgra boasted annual sales of $25 billion and was the fourth-largest international foods company. Beyond ConAgra, Thomas quietly and generously lent his talents to countless Omaha nonprofits, among them Salvation Army, Omaha Community Playhouse, Big Brothers/Big Sisters, Methodist Hospital, United Way, Boy Scouts, Omaha YMCA, Omaha Symphony, Omaha Public Library and Joslyn Art Museum. Given his background, it comes as no surprise he served many of those organizations as treasurer.