LOUIS F. AVERSANO JR.: A Morning
Chat With Fish
Louis
F. Aversano Jr. liked to take care of everybody and
everything. Especially his fish. At his home in
Manalapan, N.J., Mr. Aversano, 58, kept a suburban-sized
aquarium with five fish that he doted on.
"Those were his babies," said Lisa Aversano, Mr.
Aversano's youngest daughter. "He would sneak in to see
them early in the morning, and he would talk to them as
if they were people. He would say, `Hi fishies, good
morning. Your sister is here to visit. Be nice to her.
You guys look so nice today.' "
He couldn't help it, she said. After all, he exuded
the same sunny disposition when helping to raise his four
children or organizing neighborhood block parties.
There is a lot of father in daughter, Ms. Aversano
said proudly. People call her "Little Lou" because they
were best friends; they were former colleagues at Aon,
where he was director of operations support; and they
looked remarkably alike (except for the receding hairline
and the mustache). And these days, she and her boyfriend
find themselves the new parents of five fish. They spend
time talking to them, just as her father did.
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