Lou died Jan. 8, 2022, in Chicago, after a prolonged illness.
Born in Chicago Dec. 23, 1936, Lou attended Northwestern before transferring to Ohio Wesleyan, where he earned a bachelor’s degree in economics and accounting in 1958. Lou earned a master’s degree in economics from Princeton in 1960 and taught at the University for the next two years.
He held positions in investment firms Stein, Roe & Farnham in Chicago, and Shareholders Management and Western Asset Management in Los Angeles. In 1979 he joined insurance company Geico in Chevy Chase, Md., becoming president of capital operations in 1993. Geico eventually became a wholly owned subsidiary of Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway.
Known as an extraordinary investor, Lou was the only person other than Buffett to control investments made by Berkshire Hathaway. After retiring from Geico in 2010, he formed a money-management firm, SQ Advisors.
Dedicated and generous to Princeton, Lou served on the Graduate School’s Leadership Council, volunteered for Annual Giving, and funded Princeton’s International Building and the Center for the Study of Macroeconomics. He also donated to Northwestern and was a trustee there.
Lou is survived by his second wife, Kimberly Querrey; sons Irving, Kenneth, and Edward ’90; five grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren.