Louis John Carbonetta passed away at home with his family by his side on November 22, 2025. He was 76 years old.

Louis was born in Lancaster, PA, on August 16th, 1949. He was the fourth child of five to Dr Reno Raymond Carbonetta and Elizabeth Carbonetta nee Waldenberger. Louis was preceded in birth by siblings Reno Raymond, Barbara, and Elizabeth, and was followed by his younger brother Cristopher Mark. He came into this life just after the end of World War II, an event that his father participated in with great distinction and responsibility, before returning to Lancaster to practice medicine. Through his childhood, Louis would sometimes travel through town with his father as he was attending patients. Louis was a boy scout for many years and earned the distinction of Eagle Scout, and with his childhood friends, played football, fiddled with cars, and even made fireworks, as boys sometimes will.

After graduating from Manheim Township High School, Louis attended Marquette University in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he earned his Bachelor of Science in Biology, earned varsity letters in gymnastics and soccer, played trombone in the band, and joined Delta Sigma Pi and Delta Upsilon fraternities. After graduating, he followed his father into service, joining the Navy. While in the Navy, Louis served in the Philippines and Okinawa. This experience, along with a college semester in Germany, marked the beginning of a lifelong love of travel and exploration.

Louis’s father died when he was thirteen, and his mother died when he was in the Navy.  After completing his tour, Louis drove his powder blue Volkswagen Beetle to New Jersey to live with his sister, Barbara, an event notable because it was there that he met a girl who lived across the street, Kathleen McCarthy, who would soon become his wife, the mother of his children, and his lifelong partner.

Louis went to work for Johnson and Johnson, where he would stay until his retirement 40 years later. His work in quality control took him around the world, continuing the adventure and exploration that had begun years earlier. No matter where his job brought him, he never forgot that it was a means to an end, and that his greatest responsibility was to his family: Kathleen and his children, Michael Raymond and Julia Louise, back home in New Jersey. He took his personal and professional responsibilities seriously, and it was a true measure of the man. He was a eucharistic minister at Mary Mother of God church, maintaining a demonstration of faith he shared with his family; Louis also dedicated his time at Duke Farms. His earlier love of athletics became a passion for bicycling, running, swimming, soccer, and volleyball, while his love of the outdoors kept him hiking and gardening. At Johnson and Johnson, he was known as the bicycle guy, riding to work before it was a thing to do, making his own path in the quiet way that was his manner.

But a biography is not the summation of a person, there are many ways that someone is in the world, some of them obvious, some of them less announced. Louis was passionate about music, he played the piano every day that he was home; he loved to read, sometimes reading multiple books in a week, and introducing his kids to a wider world from his National Geographics; he loved animals; he loved photography, taking pictures of his family, but also pictures of small details of the world around him, a close-up of a flower, the way the light hit a section of fence in the afternoon. There is a clue in that as to the person Louis was — always curious, always looking at the world, finding the wonderful in the mundane, the Godly in the ordinary. He took great joy in sharing this with his wife and children, teaching Kathleen about the pleasures of classical music and fine art, taking his children camping, exploring nature, learning how to see the unfathomable beauty and mystery that surrounds us all, hiding in plain sight.

Louis is survived by his wife, Kathleen McCarthy Carbonetta; his children Michael Raymond (Amanda Stanton) and Julia Louise (Adam Cvijanovic); and his grandson, Reno Raymond Carbonetta. He is also survived by his siblings Reno Raymond, Elizabeth Bunny Hoerman, and Barbara Keith. He is predeceased by his parents Reno and Elizabeth, younger brother Christopher Mark, brother-in-law Frank Keith, grand-nephew Oscar Raymond Mayer, and many loving aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Louis was the brother-in-law to Danuta Carbonetta, Frank Hoerman, , Stephanie Carbonetta, Colleen McCarthy, Joe McCarthy, Michael Raymond McCarthy, Sharon McCarthy, Yvonne McCarthy, Jennifer McCarthy, Antonio Molestina.

He was a loving and proud uncle, uncle-in-law, great uncle, and great-great uncle to many. Louis grew up with many beloved cousins from both the Carbonetta and Waldenberger-McKittrick families, who remained an important part of his life.

We will be celebrating Louis’ life this spring at Willowwood Arboretum, a place that he and Kathleen started visiting before it was an official park in the 1970’s. Please join us on Saturday May 16th at 2:00 at 300 Longview Road, Chester Township, New Jersey.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to:

Willowwood Foundation:

https://www.willowwoodarboretum.org/donate

Parkinson's Foundation:

https://www.parkinson.org/

Nature Conservancy:

https://www.nature.org/