Alexander Osti

Longtime South Lake Tahoe resident and business owner Alexander Osti died of heart failure Feb. 21, 2016. He was 85.

Born in Santa Monica to immigrant parents, Alexander was a first-generation Californian. His first job at age 13 was in a slaughterhouse. He retired as a journeyman butcher in 2006. During his career he worked in numerous slaughterhouses in Southern and Northern California, and at Harveys Casino as a meat cutter before establishing his own business in Tahoe, the Ranch Butcher.

The joy of his life was his family and the love of his life was his wife, Elvira. The two were inseparable. If you saw one, you knew the other was somewhere close by.

Alexander was always telling the story of how he met Elvira and their 90-day romance that lasted until her death in 2007.

Alexander is survived by his son, Lamont “Buffy” Osti, and his wife, Constance Osti; daughter Margo Osti; grandson Adam Osti, his wife Allegra Osti and their daughter Alexis Osti; grandson Eric Osti, his wife Trisha Osti and their children Hayden and Sophia Osti; and many nieces and nephews.

A funeral will be on March 3 at McFarlane Mortuary in South Lake Tahoe. The rosary will be recited at 10am, the Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11am, with the burial at Happy Homestead Cemetery immediately to follow.