Louis A.“Tony” Perrone  died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) in Wellington Regional Medical Center in Wellington, FL, on 17 June 2009. Born in Naples, Italy, on 13 December 1932, Tony emigrated to the United States as a young boy. He was raised in Brooklyn, NY, and graduated from Saint Francis Xavier High School, a military school in New York City. He attended Hilder Prep School for one year prior to winning a competitive appointment to the Naval Academy through the Naval Reserve.

Tony graduated with the Class of 1956 as a member of the 13th Company. Upon graduation, Tony was commissioned in the Supply Corps. After attending the Navy Supply Corps School in Athens, GA, he served on a supply ship, seeing duty in the Atlantic and the Mediterranean.

He left active duty in 1960. In 1960, Tony began a 26-year career with IBM, working in sales, product strategy and teaching customers how to manage the latest information systems. His career required frequent moves and at various times he resided in Washington, DC, Miami, Dallas, Chattanooga, Raleigh, Boca Raton and Fort Lauderdale.

He retired from IBM in 1987 and then spent some time working with National Advanced Systems, Digital Equipment and Hitachi. Tony then became a consultant in the computer industry, worked himself into part time consulting, and finally completely retired in the 1990s. Always interested in contact sports, Tony took up martial arts training and became an instructor in Tai Chi. Tony grew his hobby of training and exhibiting his German shepherd dogs into international recognition. He became a recognized expert and a licensed judge of the training of German shepherds in tracking, obedience and general police dog work. He was frequently called upon to judge field trial events for German shepherds held throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. On several occasions, Tony led a U.S. team of trainers and dogs to Europe for international field trial competition for dogs from around the world.

He is survived by his wife of 35 years, the former Kathryn McAdoo of College Park, MD.A memorial Mass was conducted on 17 July 2009 in St. Andrews Chapel at the U.S. Naval Academy, followed by inurnment in the Naval Academy Columbarium. Dick Levendoski ’56