I knew Lou for over 29 years, as a boss, co-worker, and friend.  I was shocked to hear of his passing, as I'm sure everyone who knew him was.  He'd recently retired but was not old, had a full life, was temperate in his habits, and took good care of himself.  If I thought about it, I'd expect he'd hear about my demise long before he reached his own end.  If that could've happened, it would be fine by me.

He and I were both long-time internal auditors for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service (AAFES).  I retired about a year before he did, and had a more modest career.  I have many memories of working and traveling with him in the U.S. and Europe over the years.  Some that come directly to mind: 

• Tosca hopping in Madrid with Lou, Gary Mikelonis, Fred Martinez, Daryl Hinshaw, and others.
• An impromptu beer drinking contest with Lou and Hank Roberts in an Italian restaurant in Vaihingen, many moons ago.  I lost and Lou pretty much had to carry me back to our hotel.
• Lou and Gary losing their luggage while flying through Istanbul.  Lou had to work 2 days in his travel clothes before his luggage showed up.  Gary never saw his again.
• The day Lou contracted food poisoning while working in Diyarbakir and noisily and volubly suffered through the night with “severe digestive complaints” in the hotel room next to mine.
• Lou and I drinking maybe one too many samples in a deep, dark, and very old wine cellar in Zaragoza.
• Lou negotiating in pidgin Italian for the only available (aged and beat up) rental car in Brindisi.
• Lou, Gary, Brian Weeks, and others, on a hallucinatory jaunt to an Athens discotheque.  As was typical in those days, I drank too much, and woke up the next morning on a beach near our hotel in Glyfada.
• Lou on a mission to find a restaurant at the end of the workday, usually Italian, followed by a few scoops of gelato, if available.  When Lou found a restaurant he liked, he'd return to it night after night, as long as we were in town.
• The glad raising of mugs and calls of “Prost!” all around in the beer halls of Munich.

In more recent and sober times:

• Lou's chagrined reaction when I banged up our rental car in Wuerzburg.
• A somber journey to Alabama, with Lou and Max Martin, to visit Rich Lyng, who was gravely ill.
• Getting caught with Lou, Kevin Iverson, and Steve Feifer, in the scrum between rival fans of a soccer match in London, where games are more akin to tribal warfare than the comparatively genteel contests of American football.  I recall that Lou, who usually eschewed conflict, was in his element that night.

Lou was, I think, a man of relatively few abiding interests but dedicated to things he cared about.  He cared, foremost, about his family and about his work.  He was engaged by the arcane arts of finance and investing.  He loved coaching and playing soccer and he enjoyed watching football, games, particularly ones involving the Dallas Cowboys.  He was a crackerjack billiards player and, I suspect, good at poker, too, although I never saw him play.  Long ago, I made the mistake of challenging him to a game of eight-ball.  I was able to take precisely one shot before Lou ran the table and I realized there was no point to another game.  He was a believer, I'd say, in the aphorism that anything worth doing is worth doing well.

Lou had no apparent desire to own the flashy baubles that attract so many other people.  Like his father, who I met, he was careful with money and was a diligent and accomplished investor.  By the standards of a man who earned a government salary, he became well to do.  Yet he wore the same old wristwatch every day that I knew him, and carried the same battered briefcase.  He drove a late-model but unassuming car.  He was concerned only that it be safe and reliable.  Where his family was concerned, however, he was unstinting.  I visited his home just a few times but, saw that it was in a fine neighborhood and was capacious, comfortable, spotless, and beautifully furnished.

At work, Lou believed in doing things by the book, thoroughly and without compromise.  His watchwords were planning, organizing, execution, process, routine, order, control, and tradition.  When he made a plan, once we'd agreed to it, it may as well have been chiseled in stone.

When in Dallas, Lou always arrived at the office before 6:30 am, and left promptly at 3:00 pm, but always worked from home every night.  Most mornings, I'd arrive at work to find e-mail messages from him, on some work topic or other, posted the previous evening.  Some might say Lou was a workaholic, but he enjoyed the work.  He reveled in the process of putting together the puzzle pieces of an audit, and writing an effective report.  Auditing is not easy to do well – if it's like a jigsaw puzzle, it's a puzzle where the pieces can change shape and color – and it's mostly a thankless task; but Lou became a master at it.

He was strong-willed and stubborn, sometimes to a fault.  I was on the receiving end of those traits more than once but, to his credit, he also applied them to himself.  One thing I always admired him for is that, at the start of his career, Lou realized that, to move up, he'd have to become proficient at public speaking.  He was not then very good at it.  He signed up for Toastmasters and, over the years, by practice and sheer will, he became an expert speaker, at least in typical situations at work.

Lou and I occasionally had differences at work, but he was the boss and had the final say.  He thought I was too often dilatory and lackadaisical, and he was undoubtedly correct.  I thought he was perhaps a little late to understand and react to changes brought to internal auditing (and much else) by the advent of computers and databases.  I think Lou was sometimes hurt that I let our differences get in the way of friendship.  He was loyal to his old friends – and I was surprised to find he considered me in this group – and naturally he wished for loyalty in return.  I'll admit I was not exactly God's gift to the profession of internal auditing.  Without Lou's constant help and guidance – and, at times, his outright protection – I could never have lasted in my job until retirement.

Lou invariably wore a suit, a white Arrow shirt, and necktie to work, long after the rest of the male workforce at AAFES had doffed suits and ties and taken to slacks and sports shirts.  In the early days, he wore rather loud polyester ties.  In later days, perhaps influenced by his wife, he favored understated silk foulards.  I sometimes thought he would be more comfortable living and working in the “Mad Men” era of the 1950s and early 1960s.

Lou had a major impact on my life and I'll miss him and will think of him often for the rest of my days.  His passing reminds me that life is a wonder, but it's not easy, nor is it fair.  I think all we can do is recognize and accept what it brings and, with help from our family and friends and our faith, make the best of it.

Lou's Munich American High School family of friends remember him with great fondness and warm thoughts - gone too soon.  See ya on the other side at the Stammtisch my brother.

Our thoughts and prayers are with you in your time of grief.  May your memories bring you comfort.

Today's "Service Celebrating the Life and Faith of Louis Andrew Tamberelli" was a testament of Lou's impact on friends and family. Hundreds filled the church; many standing, and others seated in the overflow fellowship hall. Lou's career with the Army and Air Force Exchange Service was remarkable...and significant. He was a true leader of the Audit team, providing the required oversight of $9B of business activity. Most important, he was approachable and was willing to help "fix" the challenging issues that surfaced. My dozens of interactions with Lou were always filled with his positive attitude, and quite honestly, I would have had a very tough time without his helping hand. My thoughts and prayers are with Lou's entire family during this difficult time.

I worked with Kerri in the mid 80's when she was a college trainee.  I remeber when Lou came into her life and that is how I began to know Lou.  Later I was one of the photographers in their wedding.  When Kerri left AAFES Lou and I continued our relationship.  I admired his love for his family, professionalism, and dedication.  He smiled everytime I asked how the family was.  My thoughts and prayers go out to your family.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the Tamberelli family during this difficult time.
Joe & Kim Ylda

Dear Kerri, Lauren, and Kristi,
Our thoughts and prayers are with you during this difficult time. 
With love,
Bill and Judy Patterson
Carrollton, Tx.

Lou's father worked with my father back when the AAFES Headquarters was still in NY, from our youngest days, we grew up together in Munich and Dallas, we taught my younger brother how to ride a bicycle together, and were the best of friends all through our lives, striving to be good at school, sports, music, and our jobs. We were close no matter how much time or distance separated us. Lou was always a sharing and loving person. My Mother, Father, Brother, my nephews, and I are all grief-stricken with this news, and send our love and condolences to Kerri, Kristi, and Lauren, and Tante Lise. RIP fratello mio, Garry Nikola Kolafa

I sat with Lou in Frankford a week ago Friday talking about how fast our careers had gone and asking him how retirement was treating him. Lou was a great guy and bled AAFES thru his veins...I was stunned to hear he passed. My thoughts and prayers are with the family having lost this great man.

So very sorry for this sudden and untimely loss for your family. I knew Lou many years with AAFES and he audited me many times and was always the utmost professional.  He and I spoke several times while planning our retirements and, at one point, we had the same day planned to retired. He would call me in Germany, at the time, to compare notes and talk about options.  So sorry that he did not get to enjoy his retirements years that he worked so hard to achieve.  My thoughts and prayers go out to your family.

He made a difference and will be remembered.  Heartbreaking news. Condolences and prayers. His AAFES family is here for you.

Lou was my supervisor the last 8-10 years of my auditing career with AAFES.  I enjoyed working for Lou because he supported his people.
  
The last few years before I retired in 2010, Lou gave me IT audits.  When writing reports, the challenge was to explain technical issues so Lou could understand them (meaning, he wasn't a technical guy).  And, I knew if I got the audit report approved by him, it was good and would make it through other management reviews.  

Lou was a great family guy.  He loved his family passionately.  He had pictures of his family all around the office.  He often talked about what Kerri was up to or what his daughters Lauren and Kristi were doing.

He's transitioned to the next world ahead of his family.  I'm confident he'll be coaching his family from behind the scenes until they all meet up again.

God bless…

What a great guy, those of us from the field didn't always welcome an auditor with open arms and especially when they said "We are here to help". Lou was different, we knew he was going to do his job and did it very well by the way but he also understood it's not a perfect world. Lou had the perfect combination professionalism, charisma and compassion. It saddens me that such a great guy was taken way to early in his life. Lou touched so many lives in AAFES and has left many wonderful worldwide memories for all of us to enjoy. My heart goes out to the family, God Bless.

I'm so sorry to hear of Lou's passing.  I worked with him for many years, and remember finding out Kerri was pregnant with his second daughter while on an assignment in Korea.  I remember him being very excited!  He would've also taken a son who would later become a Dallas Cowboy, I'm sure.  But, oh well.  He really was a family man first and foremost!

Such a kind sweet man. I knew him in Munich, Germany. So sorry to hear of his passing and my prayers go out to his family.

Kerri, we so admired your loving husband.  He was a great friend and led others with such caring and passion.  Kristi and Lauren, know that your Dad was well loved by all and set such a great example for you and the other kids whose lives he touched.  Some of my fondest memories are of watching you kids play sports with Lou on the sidelines as Coach.  Hold to those memories and stay close to your faith, as those will give you the greatest comfort.  Our love is with you all.

Our hearts go out to Kerri, Kristi and Lauren.  Know that you have a wide circle of friends who care.  Lou will live on in so many hearts because he truly was a wonderful man who touched many lives.  
   With our deepest sympathies, Sally Helppie & Michael Stokes

AVIS DE DÉCÈS

Louis Andrew Tamberelli

8 juin 1957 – 24 avril 2013

Sparkman Funeral Home & Cremation Services

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