Luis was born in Panama. He was raised and educated in a Panama Canal community. Yet, as he won a student exchange scholarship while finishing his senior year in Panama, he spent the last high school year in northern Minnesota, and achieved a U. S. high school diploma. His first contact with the maritime world happened in1974, when after several years of university studies in the Pre-Med and Medical Lab fields in Colombia and the U. S., he came back home and ventured, via the famous Panama Canal Apprentice Program, into the local work force. He started as an Apprentice Electrician, and after working little over a year as a Journeyman Electrician, both in the Gatún and Miraflores Locks, he chose to begin a second apprenticeship, this time In the Marine Engineering field. After successfully completing the different stages of his training, he became a Chief Engineer in the Panama Canal tugboat fleet, and retired after a 40 year career, in 2012. And now, pooling his experience together with that of his son, who during the last ten years has served as Watch and Chief Engineer, as well as a private maintenance contractor in the yachting industry, Luis has embarked in the maritime maintenance world, creating Marine Preventive Solutions, Panamá (MPS-PANAMA).