Remembering Stuller’s ‘Tool Guy,’ Andy Kroungold

Lafayette, La.—Andrew S. Kroungold, the longtime Stuller employee better known as “Andy the Tool Guy,” died last Wednesday morning at a hospital in Youngsville, Louisiana.

He was 66 years old. 

In a statement issued immediately following Kroungold’s passing, Stuller said: “Andy’s infectious personality and joyous outlook on life put a smile on everyone’s face that he encountered.

“He was beloved by our Stuller family and equally beloved by our customers.”

Born July 26, 1953, Kroungold spent most of his life in Youngsville, a suburb of Lafayette.

He was on the swim team in high school and attended college at Florida International University, earning a bachelor’s degree in business.

Kroungold started his career in the jewelry industry with jewelers’ equipment and supply company Swest Inc. in Atlanta in the 1980s.

He was hired by Stuller in 1999.

He held a variety of jobs in his 20 years at Stuller, mostly recently working as tools business director.

News of Kroungold’s death generated an outpouring of remembrances online, with many describing him as a great man who was helpful and knowledgeable.

A fixture at jewelry trade shows nationwide, he was “the man” for many independent jewelers when it came to tool needs.

On National Jeweler’s Facebook page, one commenter said “The Tool Guy” assisted her in assembling her “dream bench.”

“As a jeweler starting out, it has meant the world to me,” she wrote.

“I’ll never forget him and what he did. My most heartfelt condolences to his family and the Stuller family as well. We have lost a great one.”

Another commenter wrote: “I will miss this gentle giant of a man, and will think of him often as I use the endless tools and equipment he helped me with, and I will especially miss the exchange we would have when I call in … about some new tool or piece of equipment.

“I know Andy will be greatly missed by his family and our industry community. It isn’t often that a person becomes famous in their trade simply by doing their job with passion, love and personality.”

WATCH: Faces of Stuller - Andy Kroungold

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In a profile created for the company’s video series “Faces of Stuller” in 2018, Kroungold said he earned the nickname “The Tool Guy” before he even started at Stuller.

Over the course of his career, he built relationships with customers that spanned