Ed died Thursday, April 24, 2003, at his home in Missoula after a two-year battle with leukemia.

After high school Ed went to Camp Perry, Va., for Navy Seabees boot camp and served during World War II. Upon his return, he entered the university in Missoula where he received his forestry degree.

Ed's early career choice was to follow in his father's footsteps as a carpenter, but he later migrated to the wood products industry. He worked with Intermountain Lumber, Hoerner-Waldorf and then retired from Champion International. He held numerous positions during his career beginning with production worker at Intermountain and ending as regional manager for Champion after 35 years of dedicated service.

During the summers of his college years, he jumped at Missoula. He quit jumping and returned to his home less than a week before the Mann Gulch Fire. He lost a lot of close friends that day.