Louis Salemy

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Louis Salemy, a veteran who was the classic salesman-persistent and unpretentious, honest and hard-working-died Wednesday, Aug. 16, at his home in New Providence. He was 92. He lived in Mountainside for thirty-nine years before moving to a continuing-care community in New Providence.
Louis was born in Boston to Abdou and Jennie (Zgaib) Salemy, who had come to the United States from Kfar Debian, Lebanon, in the early part of the twentieth century. The second of six children, he grew up in the Union Park neighborhood of Boston's South End, at that time populated by immigrant families. He graduated from Boston English High School, then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, serving overseas in England, Germany, and North Africa. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Good Conduct Medal by the Defense Department during his military enlistment. Upon his return to Boston, he had a renewed commitment to education: he earned a bachelor of science degree from Northeastern University and an MBA from Babson College.
He married Elaine Jean Saidnawey in 1960 at Our Lady of the Cedars of Lebanon Church in Boston, and the couple settled in Belmont, Mass. Louis worked as a sales manager for MacMillan Bloedel, a Canadian firm manufacturing lumber products including newsprint and pulp. He left MacMillan for Lawrence R. McCoy & Co., an employee-owned wholesale wood products firm based in Worcester, Mass.
During the course of two decades there, he was a salesman, vice president, and director. He worked out of an office in the basement of his Mountainside home. With a home-based office, his work life often blended with family life. His wife, Elaine, did most of the accounting and paperwork, and his children were trained to answer the business phone lines and take detailed messages. When his children were old enough to have learner's permits, the kids became his drivers on sales calls, getting behind-the-wheel experience on the turnpikes of New Jersey and Pennsylvania.
In business, he was unconventional. For instance, he didn't believe in putting callers on "hold," so he often had two phones off the hook at the same time. While he talked with the first caller, the second caller would be able to listen in from the receiver on his desk. When technology advanced, he resisted it, always preferring handwritten notes, land-line phones, and paperwork in triplicate.
Louis was active in Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Mountainside, serving on the parish council. He also was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Affairs in Mountainside and the Old Guard of New Providence. He loved the intrigue of the "Mission Impossible" TV series and the roller-coaster ride of being a Boston Red Sox fan.
Throughout the years, he relished life's small pleasures. He declared every meal he ate with family to be "the best meal I've ever had." Instead of simply dropping off his children at the airport when they were young adults, he always insisted on accompanying them to the gate and waiting until they boarded their plane; later, they would discover a $20 bill in a coat pocket or duffel bag. When asked to name his first priority, he would reply, "my family." His response when asked his second priority: "I only have one priority."
He is survived by his wife, Elaine; two sons, Louis and his wife, Holly, of Concord, Mass., and Stephen and his wife, Cynthia, of Stirling; two daughters, Shirley and her husband, Keith Meyer, of Maplewood, and Julie of Summit; two brothers, Thomas of Mashpee, Mass., and Edward of Jamaica Plain, Mass.; two sisters, Phyllis Carlo and Diana Salemy, both of Jamaica Plain; and nine grandchildren, Matthew Salemy of Portsmouth, N.H., Christian Salemy of Boston, Thomas Salemy of Newport Beach, Calif., Julianne Salemy of Brooklyn, N.Y., Caroline Salemy of Boston, Jennifer Salemy of Stirling, Meredith Meyer of Ferndale, Mich., Katherine Meyer of Maplewood, and Malachy Meyer of Maplewood. He was preceded in death by his parents and his sister Clara.
A funeral Mass will be celebrated at Our Lady of Lourdes in Mountainside at 10 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 2. Interment will follow at Fairview Cemetery in Westfield. Arrangements are by Dooley Colonial Home in Westfield.
In lieu of flowers, we suggest a donation in his memory to Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center .