T.J. is a retired computer systems specialist and systems analyst. He designed computers and wrote computer software to manage hotels. His love for orchids began when he lived in Southern California and started growing Cymbidiums in his yard.  For quite a few years, every secretary in the company where he worked received, anonymously, a Cymbidium blossom on Valentine’s Day.

Since retiring to Mexico he has been rescuing orchids from downed trees and broken limbs before they are eaten by animals or washed down the streams and rivers into the sea. Much of what he knows about orchids he has learned in the laboratory of the great outdoors. The rest comes from online research and numerous books on the subject.

He is on the board of directors of the Vallarta Botanical Garden. In recent years he has given talks to orchids societies in the US, Canada, England and Scotland.