Personal Life
Garry Thomson married, in 1954, Mom Rajawongse Saisvasdi Svasti (known as Noy), the daughter of a Thai prince. They had four sons. Outside of his family and professional life the other consuming interest of Thomson's life was Buddhism, which dated back to his time as an undergraduate at Cambridge, where he started a Buddhist group.
For several decades he was a member of the Buddhist Society of London, one of Europe's earliest Buddhist organisations, serving on its council and as vice-president (1978–88); he also taught its basic meditation class. He gave public talks and wrote articles and book reviews for the society's journal Middle Way, and was a regular and enthusiastic contributor to the society's summer school. Producing numerous talks. Thomson proved a very influential teacher at a time when interest in Buddhist practice was growing rapidly. Not only was he unassuming, kind and generous with his time; he also brought to the practice of meditation a mind trained in science — intelligent, open, objective and questioning.
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