Egon Klementi — 1934-2017

Egon Klementi

A Lake Tahoe resident for many years, Egon A. Klementi died Oct. 24, 2017. He was 83.

Egon was born April 11, 1934, in Austria.

In his late teens he and his identical twin brother Helmut put an artistic spin on the tricks of bicycle stunt riding. The resulting show was so outstanding that the Klementi twins won many international competitions and performed all over Europe. Ed Sullivan saw them at the Moulin Rouge in Paris and brought them to his famous show in New York. Egons’s wife, Elfie, joined the show business act. It was a bike act with comedy and artistic skills performed on four continents. Their act brought them to Las Vegas and later on to Harrah’s in Reno and Lake Tahoe.

During the 35 years in showbiz and traveling all over the world, Egon drew and painted, taking classes from famous European artists and studied at the Ecole de Design de Paris in France. When he came to Tahoe he continued his formal study at the Lake Tahoe Community College.

The Klementis retired from show business in May 1989 at Harrah’s. This gave Egon more time to devote to his art. Egon poured his creative energies into pursuing the visual art. Silk painting became his favorite media, but he studied and worked in several media: photography, mixed media, metal leaf collages, sculptures with wood, marble, soapstone and metal. His contribution to art education includes serving as the president of the Nevada Art Association. He was for many years an artist in residence at the Tallac Historic Site in South Lake Tahoe and was an active member of the Tahoe Art League. He was teaching numerous painting classes and workshops across Northern Nevada and Northern California.

Egon also had a “normal job” as he puts it. He started out to be a limousine driver/chauffeur for Harrah’s Lake Tahoe in November 1994 and then was a butler at the Summit Suites until May 2005.

Egon lived life to the fullest. His joy-in-living, his constant joking and quick wit is hard to forget. His absence is deeply felt by those who knew him.

He will be forever missed by his wife of 53 years, Elfie; son Rene with his family living in Austria; and Helmut his twin brother here in Tahoe.

There will be no services.