Ed passed away April 27, 2022, at the age of 95. He was born in Chicago. He is survived by his two sons Mark and Mike, and his sister Libby Hoffman. He also leaves four beautiful grandchildren – Rosanne, Tami, Nate, and Kevin; and five great-grandchildren – Brennan, Sienna, Hailey, Andrew, and Diego.
Ed was born and raised in Chicago where he met his wife, Fern, and raised their two sons. They were married in 1949. Charitable giving was a big part of their life from an early age. The charitable participation continued when they moved to Tucson in 1988 after retiring at an early age. Some of the charitable causes included the Jewish Federation of Southern Arizona, Anshei Israel along with other local, national and international (Israeli) charities.
Ed was drafted into the military in the Army in 1945. He reported to Fort Bliss in El Paso and was placed in anti-aircraft training. At the end of basic training all of the trainees were given new assignments. Ed was sent to the Army Air Corp. After a few assignments and going through MP training, he was assigned overseas to Japan. The war had ended so their role was to help the Japanese people and assist in the cleanup. Ed spent two years in the Army.
His favorite sports growing up were playing softball, basketball, touch football, bowling, craps and a lot of card games. After graduating from Roosevelt University, Ed who had a tremendous work ethic worked many jobs at a time. The jobs included working at a furrier, fruit market, egg company (where he began his love for accounting), a steel company, and then as office manager for seven years at Sterling. It was time to go out on his own and he and a partner started a wholesale hardware company in Chicago in 1963 which still exists.
Ed retired from BE Atlas in the late 80’s ultimately moving to Tucson in 1988 where they lived for the rest of their lives. Ed and Fern took great pleasure in being involved in the lives of his sons, grandchildren and great grandchildren. Some of Ed’s hobbies over his life included his love of the Bears, Cubs, Bulls, Arizona Wildcats, and any sports team that his son Mike operated; reading books from the library; playing games like Scrabble and Checkers; following the stock market, and a whole lot of travel. Fern and Ed loved the people and spirit of Israel which was evident by the fact they visited there 42 times. They were also world travelers and spent one month a year in St. Croix. Ed had a generous spirit and will be missed!
