Ludwig Adam (Lud) Gritzo

Ludwig Adam (Lud) Gritzo went to join the Lord and his beloved wife of 60 years, Lois Fay, on April 19^th, 2023.  He was born on September 8^th, 1937, in St. Louis, MO.  When he was seven years old, his father bought a small farm about 40 miles west of St. Louis.  There Lud grew up with all the experiences that go with mixed farming:  various crops, horses, cattle, swine, chickens, etc.  There he learned that one must work hard to achieve one's desired results.

Lud graduated from Francis Howell High School near Weldon Springs, MO. in 1954.  His elder brother, Ralph Adolph Gritzo (1928-2011) provided funds for Lud to attend the University of Missouri in Columbia, MO.  There he majored in Chemical Engineering, and graduated in 1958.

There he also met his future wife, Lois Fay Eberhart (1935-2018), the daughter of Earl Frederick Eberhart and Kathryn Marie Burger, and they were married at Third Baptist Church in St. Louis on June 21, 1958.  They traveled on their honeymoon to Los Alamos, NM, where Lud had secured an offer of employment. 

Lud's work at the Los Alamos National Laboratory developed over the next 37 years.  His assignments included work to develop low-temperature flexible plastic material, new high-power low-sensitivity explosives, and explosive testing technology.  A cooperative education program between the Laboratory and the University of New Mexico allowed Lud to receive his PhD in Nuclear Engineering in 1971.  He switched from the technical side of the Laboratory to the support side, became one of the top dozen Laboratory managers.  He retired in September, 1995.

Lud had several hobbies:  Lapidary, silversmithing, woodworking, model trains, gardening, and genealogy.  Lud's ancestry was in Germany on his mother's side, and East Prussia on his father's side.  He was predeceased by his parents, Ludwig Gritzo and Bertha Kluetsch, and his elder brother Ralph. 

He is survived by his son Russell Earl and wife Deborah, son Louis Alan and wife Ginger, granddaughter Jessica Sage, and adopted grandchild John Luke Christopher Gritzo.

His ashes will be buried in Guaje Pines Cemetery, Los Alamos, NM.

In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made in Lud’s memory to the Compassus Living Foundation