Lou Gallo

Lou Gallo
Born	Louis D. Gallo April 19, 1932 Dunmore, Pennsylvania
Died	September 30, 2004 (age 72) Buffalo, NY
Resting place	Mt Carmel Cemetery, Scranton, PA

Lou Gallo (1932-2004), born in Dunmore, Pennsylvania, was considered a trailblazer among close-up magicians.

Biography

Gallo consider himself just a hobbyist who loved doing card tricks. He got involved with card tricks at the age 26 while working at Bethlehem Steel, where he continued working at until he retired in 1985.

He was a mainstay of the Buffalo, New York magic scene as a regular at the Forks Hotel and friend of Eddie Fechter. He influenced many magicians with his sleight of hand with cards and coins.

Considered one of the top card performers of his era, Lou Gallo was best-known for his Gallo Pitch, regarded by some as one of the most original coin sleights of the 20th century.

In honor of Lou Gallo, the annual Most Valuable Person award at the 4F convention is named the "Lou Gallo MVP Award." The award, which is voted on by all attendees, is given to the person whom they thought contributed the most to make the 4F convention a big success. Boris Wild was the recipient in 2008.

His two sons, Mike and Joe inherited some of their dad’s skill in magic.

References

• Lou Gallo: The Underground Man written by Richard Kaufman (1996)
• The Linking Ring, Vol. 84, No. 12, December 2004, Lou Gallo (1932-2004), page 53, Broken Wand, Lou Gallo, page 132

 http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GSln=gallo&GSmid=46620889&GRid=169041891&