Thomas J. Schoch graduated from Columbia University. From 1934 to 1936, he served as chief chemist for the B. P. Ducas Company. He served as the research group leader for the Corn Products Company from 1937 to 1968. In 1968, he came to Cornell as Professor of Food and Nutrition in the College of Home Economics, until his death in 1969. His primary research interest throughout his career was starch chemistry and its applications to food, paper, textiles, and other industrial uses. He also developed the classical method of starch fractionation, worked in the development of basic concepts in the area of bread staling, and developed a derivative of waxy starch as a synthetic blood plasma extender. He held eight patents, including one for a process that helped reduce gumdrop production time from two days to 20 to 30 minutes. He authored more than 60 papers and articles and received numerous awards, including the Thomas Burr Osborne Medal, the highest award of the American Association of Cereal Chemists.