Longtime San Luis Obispo County pediatrician Dr. Louis Tedone has died at the age of 97.
His family said he passed away peacefully Sunday morning.
Dr. Tedone became the county’s first pediatrician in 1953.
He was born to Italian immigrants in Brooklyn, New York, one of three brothers who helped run the family grocery store. When his dad died in 1941, Tedone started medical school while serving in the Navy.
During the Korean War, Tedone ended up at Camp Roberts.
Dr. Tedone treated local children for 35 years full time and another 15 years part-time until he retired at the age of 80.
Tedone was also well known for his fresh mozzarella, a daily ritual he started at a young age to help his mother. His mozzarella was sold locally at DePalo & Sons in Shell Beach.
Dr. Tedone liked to call himself “Lucky Louie.”
“Lucky in love and lucky in life,” he told KSBY News anchor Christina Favuzzi in 2017.
Tedone met his wife, Grace, just before officially earning his white coat. The couple had nine children together. Grace passed away in 1994 after a battle with cancer.
In his interview with Favuzzi, Dr. Tedone closed with this advice for other physicians:
“I think the most important thing is you need to have a passion for what you are doing and you have to like people and enjoy seeing people and helping people. And if you have that, you can work everything out.”
His legacy will live on in the French Hospital Medical Center's annual Louis M. Tedone Humanitarian Award.
Memorial services have not been determined due to COVID-19. The family asks donations be made to the Grace and Lou Tedone Memorial Fund at Mission Prep High School.
