Lauri Van Oittinen, age 64, passed away on December 24, 2018 in a single car accident.

Lauri was the eldest of 5 sons born to Kalevi Esa Oittinen and Colleen Gertrude Oittinen.  He began life March, 1954 in Washington, D.C., the child of a Finnish father and an American mother. The family lived in Maryland, Italy and Spain, with the sons spending their summers in Finland.

An outstanding scholar and athlete, after graduating from American High School at Torrejon Air Base (Madrid, Spain) in 1972, Lauri enlisted in the United States Navy in Rota.  He served for 6 years and was very proud to be a veteran of the Vietnam War.  He served tours of duty aboard the carrier, USS America , as a Tactical Computer Technician, and at Naval Air Station, Pensacola.  Lauri married Carol Bertoia in May 1974.  Upon discharge from the Navy in 1978, he was hired by IBM in San Antonio as a Computer Engineer; and he transferred & moved his family to the Dallas area in 1985.  Although he climbed to a managerial job, Lauri choose to return to field work and problem solving for IBM and his clients.  He celebrated his 40-year anniversary with IBM last August.  He was currently a Lead Technical Advisor and had previously worked on the XIV storage system group.  Lauri also had been a long-serving Senior Client Advocate for Fidelity Investments.

Lauri Oittinen is survived by his chosen companion of 22 years, wife Marilyn Baxley Binning of Lewisville, Texas;  his mother, Colleen Oittinen (Washington state);  daughter, Megan Oittinen Lawson and husband Mike (Flower Mound);  sons:  Sean Oittinen and wife Catrina (Carrollton), Clark Binning (Lewisville), Evan Binning (Dallas); brothers:  Michael Oittinen and wife Rose (Washington state), Peter Oittinen and his wife Dianne (Florida), Karl Oittinen and his wife Karen (southern California), and Arne Oittinen (Colorado); his older half-brother, Matti Stahlberg and wife Paivi (Finland), grandchildren, Kenna Stow, Logan Stow, Ian Stow, Jacob Lawson, Kalevi Lawson, Nikolas Lawson, step-grandchildren, Branden Lawson amd Nathaniel Lawson.

Lauri was preceded in death by his father, Kalevi Oittinen.

The family will receive friends on Monday evening, January 7, 2019 from 6-8 PM at DeBerry Funeral Directors in Denton, Texas.  Funeral Services will be held on Tuesday, January 8, 2019 at 10:00 AM at Hope Evangelical Lutheran Church in Corinth, Texas.  Pastor Wayne Hamit will conduct the service.  A private family interment will take place at the Dallas-Ft. Worth National Cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, donations to honor Lauri may be made to either:

Fisher Center for Alzheimer's Research Foundation www.alzinfo.org

or

Gary Sinise Foundation www.garysinisefoundation.org