Arnold Kemmerle, successful and respected accountant, dies at 99

Arnold Kemmerle’s father wasn’t a big believer in formal education. So Kemmerle largely taught himself what he had to know to become a successful and respected accountant, adviser to North Coast businesses, Lutheran Church leader and organizer of international humanitarian missions.

“He was self-made,” said his son, Steve Kemmerle of Petaluma.

Arnold Kemmerle, who began his career in a bank mailroom and became a sought-after certified public accountant, died Dec. 24 at his home in Santa Rosa. He was 99.

A Sonoma County resident since 1979, Kemmerle was known for decades as a source of wise and ethical tax and investment advice to ranching, timber and myriad other businesses in Sonoma, Mendocino and Humboldt counties.

“Arnold was a remarkable guy. He had absolute integrity,” said Ted Stephens, a Santa Rosa financial adviser who was mentored by Kemmerle.

Stephens also regarded Kemmerle as a great and generous teacher in the realm of business.

“He wouldn’t throw you a fish, he’d teach you to fish,” Stephens said. “He was always there to share whatever knowledge he had.”

Kemmerle was born in Oakland on Nov. 7, 1919. He grew up in San Rafael and San Francisco. As a young man he enrolled at UC Berkeley, but had to leave after just one year.

“It was the Depression,” said his son, “and he couldn’t afford to stay.”

Kemmerle took a job as a clerk in a Wells Fargo Bank mailroom. Superiors gave him greater responsibilities when they noticed, as Steve Kemmerle phrased it, that “he was just one of these people who had a thing for numbers.”

Arnold Kemmerle took accounting classes at a night school, and then launched a career as an accountant. He worked for several firms in succession: Lester Herrick & Herrick, Arthur Young & Co., and Arthur Andersen LLP.

The lifelong Lutheran met the former Priscilla Thiede at a church in San Francisco.

“They were married four months short of 72 years,” their son Steve Kemmerle said. Priscilla Kemmerle died in April 2012.

Arnold Kemmerle’s work advising businesses led to him serving for a time as president of two enterprises: the Delta Gas Co. of San Jose and Crawford Lumber Co. of Ukiah.

He also was a leader at Faith Lutheran Church in Ukiah and then at Santa Rosa’s St. Mark Lutheran Church.

Kemmerle traveled to Haiti five times on church missions. His dedication to service also took him to Nicaragua, where he assisted with a mission that provided cataract surgery to people whose vision had been seriously compromised.

“He helped a lot of people,” Steve Kemmerle said.

Arnold Kemmerle also is survived by sons Richard Kemmerle of Auburn, Roger Kemmerle of Loomis and Robert Kemmerle of Martinez; 15 grandchildren; and numerous great-grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at St. Mark’s Lutheran Church.

Kemmerle’s family suggests memorial contributions be made to the Concordia Theological Foundation, P.O. Box 15810, Fort Wayne, IN 46885.