Neil Louis Solomon

Neil Louis Solomon was born April 19, 1941, in St. Louis, MO, to Irving I. and Ruth B. Solomon. He was their only child. Neil died on October 2, 2505, in Memphis, TN. He grew up in St. Louis, Little Rock, Grand Rapids, MI, and Lexington, KY. While in Lexington, Neil earned his Eagle Scout and graduated from Lafayette Sr. High School in May, 1959.

Immediately following high school graduation, his family moved to St. Paul, MN, and in the fall of 1959, Neil began attending the University of Minnesota-Minneapolis. During his three years at the U, he majored in several areas of study and belonged to Phi Epsilon Pi fraternity. He spent numerous happy hours at the Phi Ep house many of which were hours he should have been attending class.

After much soul searching and a mediocre GPA, he realized he was not an ideal student and decided to explore other vistas. That took him to the US Air Force recruiting office in Minneapolis. He enlisted in the Air Force April 1963. He was first trained as a Mandarin linguist and then as a Radio Intercept Analyst. During his four year, two month and 20 day enlistment he was first stationed at several bases in the continental US for training. January 1965 he was assigned to Clark Air Base in the Republic of the Philippines and then to Da Nang and Tan Son Nhut Air Bases in the Republic of Vietnam. He was honorably discharged in June 1967, at the rank of Staff Sergeant. He resumed his studies at the U of M and this time he fared much better, earning his BA degree in March 1969, with a much improved GPA. During summer in 1968, he was awarded a National Defense Foreign Language Fellowship and attended Columbia University in New York City to study advanced Chinese.

After graduation in January 1970 Neil began working at Guardsmark LLC, a company founded by Ira Lipman seven years prior. The next 42 years, Neil worked for the company in several U.S. cities and positions in Guardsmark’s Security Division becoming a Regional Manager. He was based first at the company’s Memphis headquarters and then at the regional office in Houston.

He met his wife, Kathy, on a SCUBA diving trip to the Cayman Islands in April 1975. At the time, she was living in Minneapolis and he was living in Memphis. All of their friends said it was meant to be. They were married in her hometown, Glenwood, Minnesota, in October 1976, and were married for nearly 42 years. Kathy died from pancreatic cancer in 2019. They have one son, David Louis.

In addition to his son, David, Neil is survived by David’s fiancé, Lauren Robertus, his grandson Michael James Ladd, brother-in-law Don (Murph)Vegoe and his wife, Sharon, Roseville, MN; sister-in-law, Patricia and her husband, Jerry Larson, Glenwood, MN, and nieces (Karen, Beth and Lynda) and nephews Michael, Brian, and Eric. AND his fur buddies Boomer and Lazy. Neil enjoyed working with his wife, Kathy, to support canine health (especially cancer), and, safety, and fostering dogs until they found permanent homes.

There will be no funeral or memorial service.

Interment will be at Fort Snelling National Cemetery, Minneapolis, MN. with a brief ceremony at 1:00 pm on Monday, October 20, 2025