Career
Thomas Balch has been called the "father of international arbitration" for his work in popularizing this peaceful mechanism of international dispute resolution (see ). Thomas Balch died March 29, 1877 in Philadelphia, and was buried at the Old Trinity Church In 1922, a library was constructed in Leesburg, Virginia as a memorial to Thomas Balch, a Leesburg native, and was named "The " Thomas Willing Balch (1866-1927) and Edwin Swift Balch (1856-1927), sons of Thomas Balch, originally endowed the subscription library.