Louis Angelo Benasso

May 29th, 1929 - September 26th, 2019

Louis Benasso, soup lover, ballroom dancer, humorist, and loyal family man with a booming laugh we can all still hear, died peacefully on September 26th in the company of his children Sue, Steve and Dave. Lou carried out with him a commitment to loyalty, service, integrity and unconditional love for family and friends that are the markers of his particular generation. Turning 90 in May, he lived a long, happy and successful life and will be missed by all, including his grandchildren Cal & Isabel, as well as the legions of East Bay MUD employees whose retirement—and the future of many generations to come—is secure due to the work of this smart, undyingly honest and caring man.

Born in Oakland to Louis Benasso Sr. and Flora

Benasso (Ghiglione) May 29th, 1929, Lou’s upbringing was the story of many recent immigrant families from Italy and elsewhere. Part of a large extended family that was no stranger to hard work, Lou’s father and mother owned and operated the Blue & Gold Market on Shattuck Avenue in Berkeley. Their success forced the first Lucky’s Market to relocate elsewhere as the fraternities and sororities of the Cal campus refused to shop anywhere else. Lou and his older sister Loraine grew up in Oakland’s Fruitvale district, but family vacations took them annually to Hoberg’s in Lake County and Lake Tahoe where Lou discovered his love for the tradition and beauty of family vacations.

Upon graduation from Fremont High School in Oakland,

California, Lou enlisted in the Air Force, ultimately completing his duty at Elmendorf Air Force Base in Alaska. Returning to the Bay Area, he was admitted to the University of California, Berkeley, where he obtained his bachelors degree in accounting in three years. Prior to graduating, Lou, met and married Beverly Goinich, who she said was the only man handsome enough to be her lifetime dance partner. Three children followed, and the young family settled in San Leandro where Lou and Bev would live until they moved to Danville thirty years later. It was a wonderful home to grow up in with nightly dinners at the family table; each child being quizzed on what they learned that day, with “nothing” being the only unacceptable answer. The tradition of family vacations continued every year with annual trips to Berkeley Tuolumne Camp and Lake Tahoe’s North

Shore, where Lou and Bev realized one of their dreams; owning a vacation home in Incline Village. Many business trips took Lou and Bev to countless cities in the U.S., followed by several long excursions, where each of them traced their European roots and visited remaining family.

Beginning his career with Price Waterhouse, Lou quickly moved on to a role with the East Bay Municipal Utility District in Oakland, where he would remain for the final 30 years of his career. He was eventually named East Bay MUD’s Treasurer and was responsible for, among other things, the large bond sales that financed the water infrastructure and power turbines that form the backbone of this utility today. One of the things Lou was most proud of was designing and maintaining the District’s pension system, which was always fully funded and managed in order to protect and secure the retirement of each and every EBMUD employee. Another legacy that lives on today.

Lou always maintained his hallmark sense of humor and strength in a never complaining approach to life, even as it came to its end. He was perhaps the favorite resident at De Un Amor, where Lou lived out his final years. No surprise, he was a particular favorite of the female residents, although his heart always belonged to Bev, who he missed terribly. No one could make his three children, grandchildren Cal & Isabel or his daughter-inlaw Mary, laugh as much as Dad or Grandpa, and he will be remembered by all of us with a huge smile, and a full heart.