Obituary of Manfred Tamm

My husband, Manfred Dieter Tamm, of Princeton, passed away on September 8, 2013, after a lengthy and courageous battle with complications from Parkinson's disease. He was born in Hamburg, Germany, and prepared for a career in that city's famous shipping industry. After his studies and internship in his uncle's shipping company, he was employed in the international transportation business in progressively more complex management positions in Europe, the Middle East, and South and Central America. His career culminated in the United States in senior executive positions, including President and Chief Executive Officer for the U.S. subsidiaries of several firms including Intercon Shipping (subsidiary of the Contship Group, United Kingdom), Costa Line Cargo Services (subsidiary of Costa Line, Italy) and A. Johnson & Company (subsidiary of the Axel Johnson Group, Sweden). Manfred also served as Owner's Representative for the Johnson Line in Latin America as well as the U.S. Representative for the Ozean-Stinnes Lines of Hamburg. Earlier, he was employed by Navemar S.A./Ozean Stinnes Company in Mexico City, Mexico. Upon retirement, Manfred took great pride in his volunteer work with Meals on Wheels and as a translator in the Princeton Medical Center Hospital Clinic. He served as a tremendous advocate for these patients, ensuring their needs were adequately passed on to the attending physicians. He also traveled the world with his family and took great pleasure in providing us so many enjoyable and educational pursuits. During his early business life, he was sent to Beirut, Lebanon, where he and I met. We recently celebrated 50 years of unbelievable happiness and love. Indeed Manfred always regarded his marriage and his two children, Eric and Heather, as the "raison d'etre" of his life. He was so very proud of both their many accomplishments and their compassionate and caring manner in life. He also applauded their choice of spouses �" Eric and wife Nara, and Heather and husband Jerry. His five grandchildren Alexis, Cassidy, Chiara, Luca and Siena were without a doubt the highlights of his life. Manfred was predeceased by his parents Reinhold and Maria Tamm; he is survived by his siblings Zigrid Tamm, Kay Tamm and Gabriele Tamm, and his nephew and niece Axel and Marion Gutschenreiter. In addition, he is survived by my two sisters, my three brothers, and their respective families. He also leaves behind Juniper, his beloved cat. Visitation hours will be from 4 pm to 7:30 pm on Friday, September 13 at the Mather-Hodge Funeral Home, located at 40 Vandeventer Avenue in Princeton. Interment will be a private service at 11 am on Saturday, September 14 at the historic Princeton Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorial contributions are made in Manfred's name to the Parkinson Alliance on-line donation site at www.parkinsonalliance.org. We will remember Manfred, in my brother Tom's words, as "…a man of great learning with multilingual skills, a man of great credibility and integrity. You made a wise choice when you married him." Manfred lived life to the fullest and always considered others first and himself last. He has made the world a better place and will be sorely missed.