Louis Myer Tanenbaum

Louis Myer Tanenbaum entered into eternal rest on the morning of November 22, 2012. His graveside service will be held Friday, November 23, 2012 in Emanu-El Cemetery (Maryville) at 1:00 p.m.

Louis Myer Tanenbaum was born in Columbia, SC on July 25, 1917 to Nathan Tanenbaum and Rose Orenstein Tanenbaum. Three children were born of that marriage, his brother Phillip and his sister Anne (Tanenbaum) Lesser. His father died from the flu epidemic in 1918 when he was one year old. Thereafter his mother remarried and the family moved to Knoxville, Tennessee. His sister Ida Tanenbaum (Rosen) was born of that marriage. His brother Phillip drowned in the Tennessee River at the age of 16.

After his stepfather's death, his family moved to Newton, NC where they lived with other family members, a true child of the depression. He worked during high school as a soda jerk, drug store delivery boy, a newspaper boy, and in his aunt and uncle's dry goods store, and, of course, walked to school through the snow five miles. After he graduated from Newton High School, his family moved to Savannah, GA where his sister Anne married. He worked in his sister Anne's in-laws' clothing store. In 1937, at the age of 20, he moved to Charleston where he and his brother-in-law Louis Lesser opened a men's clothing store on King Street, Lesser Tanenbaum. They opened a second store in the South Windermere Shopping Center, and they expanded to sell women's clothing also. Sixty two years later he retired at the age of 82.

He married Phyllis Karesh on June 26, 1946. They lived happily together for the past 66 years. Three children were born of that marriage, Mark, Rose (Haber), and Alan.

He served his country in the US Coast Guard during WW II as a recruiter and then in the South Pacific on the General Hugh Scott transport ship where he served as the ship's yeoman and newspaper editor; he attended the College of Charleston and NC State University; he served his community as President of the Lions Club, of the Retail Merchants Association, and of B'nai B'rith lodge; as a founding member of Synagogue Emanu El; as Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce; and as a member of the boards of the American Red Cross, the Boy Scouts, South Carolina Federal Savings and Loan.

He is survived by his loving wife, his three children, his son in law Mike (Rose) Haber who he loved like a son, his nine grandchildren, his great granddaughter, two wonderful grandsons-in-law and eleven nieces and nephews.

Arrangements by J. HENRY STUHR, INC., DOWNTOWN CHAPEL.