He was born in Czechoslovakia and emigrated to the United States with his family in 1935. Raised in New Jersey, he became a star athlete and eventually played professional baseball on the minor league level.

In 1943, he joined the U.S. Army and was assigned to the 508th Regiment of the 82nd Airborne. He fought in the Battle of the Bulge and earned two purple hearts and a bronze star.

After the war, he met and married Virginia Combi. Lou became a civil engineer and settled in Utah. He retired from Ford, Bacon and Davis as their CEO when he was sixty-five. He twice served as a director at Hidden Valley Country Club, where he was an avid golfer.

He is survived by his wife of almost fifty-nine years, daughters, Stephanie (Tony) Poulsen and JoAnn (Larry) Lighty; and granddaughters, Jennifer (Walker), Laura, Elizabeth, and Megan. Preceded in death by parents, Johanna and Anton; and sister, Mildred Brodeck.

Friends are invited to celebrate his life on Thursday, February 18, 2016 from 6:00 until 8:00 p.m. at Starks Funeral Parlor, 3651 South 900 East. Millcreek. A Funeral Mass will be celebrated on Friday, February 19, 2016 at 11:00 a.m. in St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church, 1375 East Spring Lane, Holladay. Inurnment will follow at Wasatch Lawn Memorial Park, 3401 South Highland Drive (1450 East), East Millcreek.

[Salt Lake Tribune. February 14, 2016]