Thomas Dudley Cabot was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 1897. He was the son of Godfrey Lowell Cabot and Maria Moors Cabot. He studied engineering at Harvard University, receiving his degree in 1919. He followed his father in business at the Cabot Corporation and later worked for the United States Department of State. He served on the Harvard Board of Overseers and was noted for his philanthropy, particularly in support of the sciences. He and his wife, Virginia Wellington Cabot, were noted philanthropists. He died in 1995.