Jeffrey "Jeff" Frederick Tabor

Jeffrey “Jeff” Frederick Tabor

November 30, 1964 - May 10, 2023

Age 58 of Fox Chapel, passed away at home with family at his side on Wednesday, May 10, 2023. Beloved husband of 24 years to Cynthia H. Tabor; dear son of William and Beverly Tabor of Macungie, PA; loving father of William Joseph Tabor, Robert Evan Tabor and George Frederick Tabor; brother of Kristin (Thomas) McMahon of Coopersburg, PA; also survived by in-laws Thomas McMahon, Jeffery and Patricia Wolverton of Charlotte, NC, as well as nieces and nephews, Ryan, Mitch, and Caroline Wolverton, and David, Sarah, and Lauren McMahon.

Jeff grew up in New Providence, New Jersey. He often spoke of the magical New Jersey 1970s childhood he had. Riding his bike, playing in the woods behind his house, running around the neighborhood, getting into trouble and being a normal kid with plenty of mischief. He always excelled at school, especially in math and science, and he wasn’t bad at English either. Jeff had an incredible work ethic from the very start and demanded excellence from himself in all aspects of his life. He was very proud of his perfect attendance record throughout high school, something he didn’t quite pass down to his kids. Jeff was a great athlete in high school, the classic quarterback of the football team and captain of the baseball team. His stories from those days are filled with epic losses and exciting wins with plenty of ridiculous antics. 

He went on to earn a Bachelor’s Degree in Electrical Engineering and a Master’s in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. While at MIT he was a member of the Pi Lambda Phi fraternity where he met his closest friends and fellow partners in actual crimes. Jeff lived in Boston for 18 years including those years at MIT. He loved that city and his life there. He spent his time there going out, causing trouble, working hard and having fun wherever he was. 

While in Boston, Jeff started his engineering career at Chipcom Corporation and quickly moved to LANart, a new start-up company. He loved getting involved on the ground floor, driving decisions about company direction and always pitched in at whatever capacity was needed. Jeff was hooked; he loved start-ups, the work, the problems and the potential to create something new. He was an all hands on deck style worker whose enthusiasm and dynamic energy drove company culture. It was this love of start-ups that brought Jeff to Pittsburgh in 2001 to work at a new startup company called Spinnaker Networks. With his success and impact at Spinnaker, his team hired him as their first marketing person at his last start up company, Avere Systems, where his first assignment was to train his boss on their technology. Avere was acquired by Microsoft in 2018. Jeff loved working for Microsoft. The challenge, the people, the technology and the prestige kept him inspired and dedicated to his work. Jeff’s tireless work ethic, his enthusiasm for his work and his antics played a major role in his team's success. In addition to being very talented at his job, Jeff had an amazing sense of humor. He delighted in being the work equivalent of the ‘class clown’ and his personifications of everyone from John McEnroe to Mitt Romney to the leader of the band Kiss were legendary in the office. Traveling with Jeff to trade shows was always fun. He could always be counted on to order the most adventurous menu items during team dinners and was an enthusiastic collector of the most bizarre items of trade show swag he could find.

Jeff met Cynthia in Washington, DC in March 1995, and they married on August 22, 1998. From the day they met, they loved each other fiercely and made each other stronger. They spent the first part of their marriage in Boston, MA where they had their first son, William, and later moved to Pittsburgh, PA where they had Robert and George. As a father, Jeff was eager to teach his sons to play sports, study hard, be funny and exude passion, all of which fit into his general philosophy of a balanced healthy lifestyle. He and his family shared a love for being outdoors. Jeff loved to spend his time taking his sons to soccer games, working in the yard, walking the dogs, and tending to his impressive array of nearly 100 houseplants, as well as being the life of the party wherever he was. He was a passionate husband and father who loved and cared for his family deeply. During his 6-½ years with cancer, he never lost his positive spirit or the will to live. He will always be loved and dearly missed.

Jeff loved top ten lists, so here are Jeff’s top ten rules for life:

1.) Don’t half ass it

2.) Never wear leather soled shoes in case you get into a street fight

3.) Always bring a cooler of beer 

4.) Root for the home team, or the underdog

5.) Start all stories at creation and don’t leave out any details, act it out when necessary

6.) Don’t be weak

7.) If you can solve it with math and science, then do it

8.) Be prepared for anything and everything

9.) If someone hits you, hit them back, harder

10.) Love your family the most

A memorial service will be held Friday, May 19th at 10 AM at the Fox Chapel Presbyterian Church, 384 Fox Chapel Road. A reception will immediately follow at Old Thunder Brewing Company, 340 Freeport Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15238. In lieu of flowers the family respectfully suggests memorial contributions to The Pittsburgh Foundation or The Angels Among Us 5K Walk of Hope at the Preston Robert Tish Brain Cancer Center at the Duke Cancer Institute.  Arrangements by Weddell-Ajak Funeral Home, Aspinwall.

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