On the night of June 15, 2026, Thomas H. Greco, Jr. took his final breath and shuffled off this mortal coil. His passing has left a deep sense of loss among his wide and varied circle of friends, associates, readers, and fellow travelers around the world. It has also left an extraordinary intellectual legacy: decades of writing, teaching, correspondence, presentations, experiments, and relationships devoted to the enduring pursuit of a more peaceful, convivial, ecologically sound, and economically just civilization.
Tom’s work is part of a long intellectual and practical lineage that includes E.C. Riegel and other pioneers of independent exchange and mutual credit, the School of Living tradition, and generations of thinkers and practitioners seeking forms of economic organization rooted in human dignity, local self-determination, cooperation, and the common good.
Tom carried that lineage forward in a distinctive way. For decades, he argued that the centralized control of credit was among the greatest obstacles to genuine economic democracy, and that communities and productive businesses could reclaim their money power through reciprocal exchange, credit clearing, locally controlled exchange media, and what he coined the “Credit Commons.”
He remained remarkably active even in the final period of his life. In 2023, I had the honor of editing (and narrating) what was intended to be the 2024 revised edition of his 2009 book, The End of Money and the Future of Civilization, but it eventually grew into a much more substantial, final reconsideration of the work. At the same time, he was arranging for the preservation of important parts of his library, including materials destined for the Schumacher Center for a New Economics; developing Cofex, his proposed invoice-factoring and community-exchange model; assembling published articles toward another collection; and contributing a chapter to an upcoming book.
During the final phase of the revised End of Money, Tony Camero worked closely with Tom to complete and substantially expand Chapter 21. Their work brought Tom’s longstanding principles of reciprocal exchange and the Credit Commons into conversation with developments that scarcely existed when the original book appeared‚ including digital exchange systems, distributed trust architectures, artificial intelligence, and new possibilities for locally controlled systems that can nevertheless become globally useful.
Tony’s connection to this work also reaches back many years. Long before meeting Tom, he had designed and piloted community exchange systems intended to recognize contribution, mobilize underutilized productive capacity, strengthen local commerce, and give communities practical tools for pursuing their own shared goals. More recently, that work has developed toward infrastructure for trust, reciprocal exchange, community coordination, and locally governed economic systems. Tom recognized that convergence, encouraged Tony’s contribution to the final chapter, and entrusted him with an important role in helping carry the work forward.
Together with Tom’s friends, colleagues, and the wider community that has formed around his work, we are beginning the Greco Continuity Project. Its purpose is not merely to preserve an archive; we intend to complete the final revised edition of The End of Money and the Future of Civilization; preserve and organize Tom’s writings, correspondence, presentations, and unfinished work; document the intellectual lineage surrounding his ideas; invite colleagues, scholars, practitioners, critics, and new generations into the conversation; and continue exploring how the principles Tom spent his life developing might be tested and applied in the world ahead.
Throughout that work, we intend to maintain a clear distinction between Tom’s own words and ideas, later interpretation and commentary, related thinkers, and whatever new work may grow from the foundations he helped establish. Continuity does not mean putting new words into Tom’s mouth; it means preserving what he actually said, understanding it deeply, placing it within the larger lineage to which he contributed, and giving others the opportunity to carry the inquiry forward.
We will soon publish the completed Chapter 21 and provide further information about the final edition and the Greco Continuity Project.
If you knew Tom, corresponded or worked with him, were influenced by his ideas, possess materials that may belong in his archive, have relevant scholarship or practical experience to contribute, or simply wish to follow the work forward, we invite you to participate.
(Please leave a comment below to be notified of the Greco Continuity Project launch).
Tom spent much of his life explaining that healthy alternatives need not conquer the old order; they can emerge alongside it, demonstrate their usefulness, connect with one another, and gradually make another way possible.
His life has ended; his work continues.
Sincerely,
Ken Richings
(assistant to Tom)
46 Responses
Deeply saddened to hear of Thomas Greco’s passing. I met him in 2011 at an event organized by Transition Toronto where he talked about money and his vision for a better future for humanity by changing how we use different, more equitable systems of exchange. This quote reminds me how fundamental and critical this issue is:
“Until you change the way money works, you change nothing.”
Michael Craig Ruppert (February 3, 1951 – April 13, 2014) was an American writer and musician, Los Angeles Police Department officer, investigative journalist, political activist, and peak oil awareness advocate known for his 2004 book Crossing The Rubicon: The Decline of the American Empire at the End of the Age of Oil.[2]
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Ruppert
Thank you for sharing this. I’m glad you mentioned the Transition Toronto event. It’s one of the things we hope to preserve through the Continuity Project is exactly this kind of history: where Tom spoke, who he reached, and how his ideas connected with wider movements working toward more equitable and resilient systems.
And yes, the underlying question you point to: how the structure of exchange shapes so much else in society, is still very much alive in the work we’re carrying forward.
Thanks for adding to the record. 😉 You are in the loop.
Tony
I’m so sorry to hear of Tom’s passing, and grateful for this remembrance.
I met Tom about twelve years ago at an IRTA convention. We ended up sitting down together over lunch, and what I expected to be a quick, polite exchange turned into a long, unhurried conversation. I told him about BartPay, the barter credit ecosystem I was building, still rough around the edges at the time. Tom listened the way he apparently listened to everyone — closely, without hurry, without ego — then offered his own insight, and in doing so confirmed something I’d only half-trusted in myself: that the idea was sound, that reciprocal exchange and community-controlled credit weren’t a fringe curiosity but a real and necessary direction. That conversation stuck with me for over a decade, long after the convention itself faded from memory.
It says a lot about who Tom was that a single lunch with someone he’d just met could leave that kind of mark. He didn’t just theorize about mutual credit and the Credit Commons — he showed what it looked like to practice the values behind those ideas in an ordinary conversation with someone he’d just met. Generous with his time, and generous with his belief in what others were building. That same spirit is exactly what this Continuity Project seems set to carry forward.
His life has ended. The work — and for me, that lunch’s quiet vote of confidence — continues.
Please add me to the list to be notified when the project launches — I’d like to follow and support it however I can.
— Izzy Landau (Barter of America / BartPay)
Izzy, thanks for this thoughtful comment. I agree about how generous Tom was with his time and experience. He did a great thing in elevating the importance of values, and an example of pure rigor in dissecting competing perspectives in his ruthless pursuit of a collective path forward.
I will definitely keep you informed of opportunities to help. BartPay looks amazing btw. I am certain you’ve learned quite a few lessons that can be passed on to the next builder.
Thanks for the comment
He has left a great legacy!!! I feature his links on my website. I am writing about the same topic; maybe we could join forces? It is key that we come together…
Absolutely. Stay tuned to the Continuity Project, and yes, we absolutely join forces.
To Tony Camero & Ken Richings: –
I was saddened to learn of Tom’s passing. Many many moons ago now, I was an irregular correspondent with Tom when first I came across both his own works and those of E.C. Riegel.
As already remarked above, it is indeed wonderful to learn of your desire to both preserve and develop Tom’s work and I would very much like to be kept informed of your progress.
Best regards,
Peter, thank you. I’m especially glad you mentioned Riegel. One of the things we hope to do through the project is preserve not only Tom’s work but the intellectual lineage around it, including the people and ideas that shaped his thinking. I’ll make sure you stay informed, and I hope you’ll contribute whatever recollections or connections you think may be useful as this develops.
All the best,
Tony
Thomas and I were friends since around 1992, collaborated on several projects over the past decades, and kept in touch regularly over the years. I was also friends with Sergio Lub, Margrit & Declan Kennedy and Bernard Lietaer. I’m feeling like I’m in the “next generation”, and proud to have been brought up in this lineage of fine people. I look forward to continuing this with the Greco Continuity Project.
Stephen, thank you. That sense of lineage is exactly what I hope we can preserve and carry forward, not simply Tom’s writings, but the people, relationships, experiments, lessons and ideas that developed around them over decades. I’m stoked with the idea that you’re willing to be part of this, and I’d love to bring some of that history into the first conversations we’re beginning to organize.
Tony
I’m a former staff member of Berkeley Regional Exchange and Development and Tom was a member of our Advisory Board along with Bernard Lietaer. Tom and I had a mutual friend in Sergio Lub, and the two of them were guests at the dinner in Berkeley welcoming me back to the States after three years living in Okinawa. I would love to stay updated on this project.
Jim, thank you, this is exactly the kind of connection and history I hope we can preserve through the project. I’d love to learn more about your time with Berkeley Regional Exchange and Development, and the network around Tom, Bernard, Sergio, and others working in that period. I’ll absolutely keep you updated, and I hope we can pull you into the conversation as the work develops.
Kind regards
Tony
Thank you for acknowledging Tom’s dedication and insightful contributions to a central issue of human society. I’m very grateful that Tom entered my life decades ago and stimulated me to understand money more fully. My colleagues and I continue to rely upon and advocate for his work. We will be glad to be kept apprised of the Greco Continuation Project and to contribute as we’re able.
David, thank you. I really appreciate this, and especially hearing that, like me, you and your colleagues are still actively relying on and advocating for Tom’s work. I’d very much like to keep you connected as this develops, and I hope we can learn more about the work you’re doing as well. I’ll make sure you stay in the loop.
Tony
Thank you David.
I am one of the many people whose life and work were touched by Tom’s quiet generosity. During a very difficult period in my life, he supported my blog both with his advice and financial donations, keeping me going when things were tough. He didn’t just write about economic reform and mutual credit-he truly practiced the community spirit and mutual aid he preached.
I am so grateful to see the Greco Continuity Project taking shape. I would love to join, stay in the loop, and help carry his legacy forward in any way I can. Please count me in!
Thank you, Tony and Ken, for keeping his work and spirit alive.
🙏 Lidiya
Dr. Angelova, thank you for sharing this. Stories like yours say a great deal about who Tom actually was, not just what he wrote. Yes, it definitely tracks that he practiced the mutual aid and community spirit he spent his life advocating for. And yes, absolutely: count yourself in. I’ll make sure you stay connected as the project develops.
Kind regards,
Tony
Thank you Tony.
Thank you Lidiya. Keep up the good work — Tom spoke highly of you. Ken
It’s great that you’ve taken this on Tom. Thank you 🙏🏻
Thank You Michel, although Tom „could not get his head wrapped around the TwinToken“ he was friendly interested.
Tony and Ken, I’m so glad you guys are carrying Tom’s torch! He was one of the most dedicated men I’ve ever known. he is dead on in his evaluation of our economic morass and will, with your help, hopefully be given due credit for his contributions to America’s resurgence when the time comes.
Thanks, Frank. Appreciate you.
Tony
Count me in.
You bet, thanks.
RIP Thomas, thank you for your efforts.
Thanks for the note.
Thank you, Tony, for continuing Tom’s work.
While I’ve not engaged directly, Tom’s work has been hugely influential in my own thinking as I develop tools for the bioconomy. I’d be honoured to be kept in the loop and if I can contribute in any small way, I’d be delighted.
Thanks. Michael. It’s clear that your work is very much aligned with where my work with Thomas has been heading. To see your progress with BioConomy is very encouraging and look forward to exploring how we can collaborate.
Tony
If you are interested in joining a 30-minute roundtable about the topic, please get in touch. Thank you
I have been a monetary reformer since Nixon took the US off the Gold standard. Greco’s concept of the credit commons is a central theme in my work. I will be pleased to be useful to your project since Tom Greco is a major figure in the monetary reformer world. I am a member of the American Monetary Institute and the Public Banking Institute, I was Member of the Board of Berkshares and of Common Good. I am currently working with Michael Sauvante and the Sustainable Communities Foundation to implement the UNIEX Bank. My current project is “The Social Architecture of the Golden Rule, Bottom Up, Consent-Based Self-Governance to Restore the Commons and Fund a Sustainable Abundance”. Read the Guidebook on the Just Abundance website.
The conditions of life I desire for myself I desire for everyone and the conditions of life everyone desires for themselves they desire for me. Money measures value. The device we use to effect value for value trades is a ledger maintained by the people who use the ledger. In a just society everyone has a right to issue the currency their capacity to create value warrants, NO DEBT NO INTEREST. Equity measures the fluctuating value of the economy and the dividend supports the consumption of value to create unmeasurable value I.e. Truth, Beauty and Goodness.
John, thank you. Yes, we would very much like to have you involved.
Your long engagement with monetary reform, your work with BerkShares and Common Good, and particularly what you’re now doing around UNIEX and Just Abundance sound highly relevant to where we hope this Project can go.
One of our intentions is not only to preserve Tom’s work, but to reconnect the people, ideas, experiments, and institutions around it, including places where different approaches converge or disagree.
I’ll spend some time with your Guidebook and reach out directly. I’d especially like to understand how your current work relates to Tom’s Credit Commons and where you believe you’ve taken the architecture in a different direction.
Tony
Thank you, Prof Lubo
Wonderful to have Tom Greco’s work preserved and continued. I would like to keep informed of progress.
Thanks, Allen. With all the advancement in DLT and AI, the conversation around money, credit, and mutual exchange is taking an exciting turn! Glad to have you onboard.
Tony
I am sad to receive the news of Tom’s passing. And I am privileged of my association with him in the recent years. He was my invited speaker at a meeting of a Centre for Future Societies Research, with a follow up invited conference talk and an article publication in Frontiers of Built Environment. The most touching moment of this association was his request to look after his mirror web site as somebody who in his words had deep understanding if his work. It is encouraging that his work continues and I would be happy to contribute if possible.
Lubo, thank you. Your note means a great deal, particularly knowing that Tom trusted you with the mirror site and spoke so highly of your understanding of his work.
We would very much like you involved. One of our priorities is to reconnect the people Tom trusted, worked with, and influenced so that the Continuity Project is informed by those who knew both the work and the man behind it.
I’ll reach out directly as we begin organizing that circle. And I’d especially like to learn more about the Centre for Future Societies work, the conference, the Frontiers article, and the mirror archive you maintained for Tom.
Tony
Hi Tony,
Many thanks for the prompt reply. I will respond fully when I get back from holiday from the end of this week as I don’t have my laptop to hand with all relevant details. I am glad to continue to be connected.
Best,
Lubo
Dear Succession Team, thank you so much for your message and for your determination to carry on Tom’s work and keep the momentum of positive thinking about new financial matters going. This is so important and would certainly be in his spirit.
I’d be happy to stay in the loop and wish you all the best as you continue the work.
Thank you, Jens. We really appreciate this. We hope to bring together exactly this community of people who have followed, contributed to, and carried these ideas over the years, and new people encountering them for the first time. We’d be very glad to have you stay involved as the Project takes shape.
Tony
That short-term vs. long-term distinction is simple and well know, I#d suspect with almost anyone.
The knowledge gap is about backed or unbacked issue, against value or against thin air.
“the centralized control of credit was among the greatest obstacles to genuine economic democracy”. Tom was somewhat correct in this. The real issue however runs a level deeper: it is the detachment of production and credit which creates distortions, and gives too much power of the imposed intermediaries, central banks and commercial banks. And yes, of course this root cause tends to increasing centralisation.
Problem is, like so many, Tom did not recognise the fundamental importance of new credit creation strictly only against value, goods produced and sold. He would create monetary credit for plausible investment projects with only speculative prospects. Thus he was siding with the ex nihilo side, those who would create currency out of thin air.
Thank you, Hubertus. This is exactly the kind of distinction we want the Continuity Project to examine carefully rather than smooth over.
Your point about whether legitimate credit should arise only against value already produced and sold, versus credible future productive capacity, gets very close to a question we’re actively examining in Tom’s writings.
If you can point us toward the particular passages where you believe Tom crossed that line into speculative credit creation, I’d genuinely like to include them in our review of the corpus. We’re trying to preserve not only what Tom argued, but the strongest critiques and unresolved questions around the work as well.
Tony
@Hubertus Tom was actually very clear about this. He distinguished between “exchange/turnover credit” (short-term interest-free credit backed by the issuer’s demonstrated capacity to supply goods & services now or in the near future; creating purchasing power to facilitate exchange) and “investment/finance credit” (long-term credit for productive investment; not issued as immediately-spendable currency but coming from existing savings or risk capital).
You can find this e.g. in the revised Chapter 14 “How Exchange Systems Succeed or Fail” of his book (https://beyondmoney.net/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/eom-rev_ch14-final-.pdf).
@Tony Camero & Ken Richings: thank you both so much for this project – I’d be delighted to stay in the loop too.
Michel, thank you! …both for joining us and for pointing directly to Tom’s treatment of this distinction in Chapter 14.
This is exactly the kind of careful, source-grounded conversation we hope the Continuity Project can preserve and encourage: not simply agreement with Tom, but claims, challenges, clarification, and the ability to trace the discussion back to what he actually wrote.
We’d be delighted to have you stay involved. I’ll make sure we connect directly as the Project takes shape.
Tony
Thank you Michel.