Sam Tyler passed away peacefully at home in Puyallup, Wa on Friday, the 13th, 2023, of natural causes, surrounded by his devoted family. Sam was born May 28th, 1943, in Torrance, Ca to Elmer Tyler and Margie McNally. Sam was born into a large family and as a young boy worked for his stepdad Max’s Electrical company wiring houses across the Puget Sound. Sam graduated from Lincoln High School in Tacoma, Wa in 1961 and soon thereafter enlisted in the Navy where he was assigned to the Destroyer USS Buchanan DDG14 stationed out of Bremerton, Wa. During his first Western Pacific tour of duty he caught the travel bug and a lifelong affinity for the sea. He often talked about the wonderous sites, sounds, and smells of 60s era Hong Kong. After the Navy he became a Journeyman Wireman of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local #76 in Tacoma, Wa. Right around this time he met and married his first wife Kathy and together they raised two boys.

A prominent figure in the construction industry for many decades Sam plied his craft all over the world. Sam also taught in the Apprenticeship Program at Bates Technical College in Tacoma where his students adored him and became lifelong friends. Sam loved to teach but he loved to build and travel even more. In the early 80s Sam worked on the WPPS nuclear powerplant where his crew broke records pulling cable. He also worked to build nuclear powerplants in the Philippines and Marshall Islands. For the next two decades Sam worked for the State Department as an award-winning Construction Manager building Embassies and Consulates in Italy, Russia, Thailand, Vietnam, Dubai, Angola, and Mexico. While at his post in Moscow he met his second wife Aurea and they married in 2004.

A consummate adventurer Sam frequently traveled off the beaten path. When Sam worked in the Philippines, he spent weekends riding his motorcycle through the countryside and mountains. One afternoon his motorcycle ran out of gas in the jungle. He decided to hike out on foot and cut through the jungle bush. As nightfall approached, he thought he had a bit of good fortune when he came across a group of men making camp. He pulled out a bottle of rum from his pack and in the best Tagolag he could muster, Sam spent the night swapping stories and swigs by campfire. When dawn broke he was able to see the men in camp were heavily armed and he quickly realized he had stumbled into an insurgent hideout. Nonetheless, Sam had endeared himself, as he often did to those he met, and the men thanked him for the rum and sent him on his way with gas for his motorcycle.

Sam was the living embodiment of an American adventurer. He was an explorer, teacher, and the hardest working man you ever met. There won’t be another one like him. He filled our lives with immense curiosity and wonder. Words cannot express how much of a sense of emptiness remains with his passing.

He is survived by his sons, Zach Tyler and Scott Tyler; wife Aurea; and a host of other family members and friends. His parents predeceased him.

The family would like to thank the tremendously loving and caring people who cared for him in the last years of his life. A heartfelt thanks goes out to the 30th Ave Davita Dialysis, Dr. Beccora, Vineyard Park, and Young At Heart for their wonderful care of Sam.