Joseph Marius Bienz

May 31, 1930 - April 18, 2020

It is with great sadness that we give notice of Joseph M. Bienz’s passing, peacefully at his home in his sleep on April 18th 2020 at Zephyr Cove after a long struggle with his health, just 6 weeks shy of his 90th birthday. Originally from Switzerland, he was born May 31th 1930 to Viktor and Louise Bienz and grew up happily as one of 12 children. At the time of his death, he was the last surviving sibling from his family. He will be forever in our hearts and missed very much by his family and friends. Joseph had a very interesting and exiting career. After completing an apprenticeship at the Dolder Grand Hotel in Zurich and an extended education in the Hotel Industry in Switzerland, he traveled the world working for Swissair and Canadian Pacific Airlines. His eventual career in Hotel Management took him throughout the world working on virtually every continent and several North American regions. Among many other positions, Joseph worked locally as the Food and Beverage Manager at “Harvey’s Wagon Wheel“ in the 60’s and the “Sahara Tahoe“ in the 70’s. With their two growing sons, Joseph and his wife Rita continued to travel the world working in various locations in the Middle East and Europe but always returned to Lake Tahoe where they kept their home. A gifted international linguist, Joseph could fluently converse from English to French, German and Spanish. He had so many interesting stories to tell. Joseph is survived by his loving wife of 57 years Rita, his two sons Stephan (Kathy) and Thomas (Karen) as well as his three grandchildren Sierra, Celeste and Bryce, his extended family and all his many friends. A celebration of his life will be at a later date. In Lieu of flowers a donation in Joseph’s memory can be made at a Charity of your choice.