L. Neal Amidei

1933 - 2023

L. Neal Amidei
October 22, 1933 - July 7, 2023
L. Neal Amidei (Neal) passed away peacefully at his home in San Rafael, CA, on July 7, 2023. He was 89 years old.
Born to Joseph and Marilyn Amidei in Chicago, IL, on October 22, 1933, Neal grew up on the city's Near North Side with his older sister, Joyce and younger brother, Paul. On summer nights, he and his brother would sneak into the Edgewater Beach hotel and use the pool. They were never discovered.
Neal attended Loyola Academy and Loyola University of Chicago, where he studied English Literature. He was drafted into the Army and served in military intelligence. There, he learned to keep tabs on suspected subversives (e.g., folk singers), shadow people through downtown Chicago, and other "spy craft," all of which naturally led him to a career in Public Relations.
He married Joan Powers in 1961, and in 1968, they moved their growing family from the wind and snow of Chicago to the streets of San Francisco. In 1972, he moved one final time, as the family crossed the Golden Gate Bridge to San Rafael, CA. In 1973, he launched his own firm, Amidei and Company Public Relations and Strategic Communications. He was an inveterate questioner, an accomplished and elegant writer, and, generally, a master communicator.
In 2003, Neal and the family were devastated by the loss of Joan, his wife of 42 years.
Neal found love again when he married Kathleen Amidei, né Kathleen Bradley, his constant and loving partner for his last 18 years, with whom he traveled the world, watched every single movie made in the last 20 years, and enjoyed lunch, every day.
He was a constant reader and tireless researcher, and a gifted storyteller. He almost always had a joke to tell, and he had a big laugh. He was a creative gardener, cultivating his Mont Marin home much to the delight of the local hummingbirds. He was well loved and will be sorely missed by all who knew him.
Neal is survived by his wife, Kathleen; his brother, Paul and sister-in-law, Rosemary; his sister, Joyce; his sons Christopher, Geoffrey, and Brian; his daughters-in-law Anna, Joan, and Aly; and his grandchildren, Nathaniel, Eleanor, Isabella, Cab, and Joseph.