In Loving Memory
Today is Memorial Day. Like many of us, I have had many reflective moments during this long weekend. I’ve read lists of fallen soldiers in the newspaper and thought of all the men and women still in harm’s way, and I’ve prayed for them and their families.
I’ve also thought a lot of people closer to me that I keep close in memory. My grandfather, Nathan, who died in 1989. My grandfather’s namesake, my nephew Nathan, who was born in 1990 and died less than two years later. My grandmother, who died in 2001 at age 87.
And Edward.
I first saw Edward in April of 1984. He was kicking a photocopy machine. I had just started a new job in the Development office of a Chicago social service agency. Edward was the Executive Director’s assistant and was in the midst of preparing materials for a board meeting. The copier was not cooperating.
Over the next few months, we became friends, eventually the closest of friends. He became a surrogate brother to me, and Rosalie, who was his fiancée when I met her and became his wife a few months later, and is still my dearest friend.
Edward left our agency about a year after I arrived, and went to work for Children’s Home and Aid Society of Illinois. He started in the Development office as staff liaison for the Women’s Auxiliary and ended his career there in 1993 as the Director of Development. He left because he was not able to work any longer, and he died a year later, after a three and a half year battle with brain cancer. He was 41 years old. He left behind a loving and beloved wife, two beautiful daughters who were just shy of their second birthday, a mother and many treasured friends.
Edward was a lot things, and among those things he was the best of the best of fundraisers. Although I know that he was successful and met or exceeded his goals, I don’t have facts and figures to tell you about – I don’t know how many dollars he raised, how many donors increased their giving, how many new donors he acquired. But I know these things:
He genuinely loved his work and understood its importance
He saw the importance of the organization’s mission at all times
He respected everyone with whom he interacted
He truly wanted to help make the world a better place – and he did
It was not because of Edward that I followed the path that I took. I fell in love with fundraising and nonprofits when I went to work for one, when I finally found that my work could be about more than putting money in other people’s pockets.
But it is in part because of Edward that I have continued on the path. Like every job, mine has its ups and downs. I work very hard and very long hours, and I frequently sacrifice time with my husband, my family and friends to “take care of business.”
For all this time, even today, nearly 13 years after his death, I think of Edward and feel a renewed commitment to my work.
Our work at CJW helps fundraisers do their work – it’s a small part in helping them be what Edward was to CHASI. I often say that I feel privileged to have been able to serve the nonprofit community for such a long time. This is why.
I honor Edward with my work. I remember him, today and always.l
I’ve also thought a lot of people closer to me that I keep close in memory. My grandfather, Nathan, who died in 1989. My grandfather’s namesake, my nephew Nathan, who was born in 1990 and died less than two years later. My grandmother, who died in 2001 at age 87.
And Edward.
I first saw Edward in April of 1984. He was kicking a photocopy machine. I had just started a new job in the Development office of a Chicago social service agency. Edward was the Executive Director’s assistant and was in the midst of preparing materials for a board meeting. The copier was not cooperating.
Over the next few months, we became friends, eventually the closest of friends. He became a surrogate brother to me, and Rosalie, who was his fiancée when I met her and became his wife a few months later, and is still my dearest friend.
Edward left our agency about a year after I arrived, and went to work for Children’s Home and Aid Society of Illinois. He started in the Development office as staff liaison for the Women’s Auxiliary and ended his career there in 1993 as the Director of Development. He left because he was not able to work any longer, and he died a year later, after a three and a half year battle with brain cancer. He was 41 years old. He left behind a loving and beloved wife, two beautiful daughters who were just shy of their second birthday, a mother and many treasured friends.
Edward was a lot things, and among those things he was the best of the best of fundraisers. Although I know that he was successful and met or exceeded his goals, I don’t have facts and figures to tell you about – I don’t know how many dollars he raised, how many donors increased their giving, how many new donors he acquired. But I know these things:
He genuinely loved his work and understood its importance
He saw the importance of the organization’s mission at all times
He respected everyone with whom he interacted
He truly wanted to help make the world a better place – and he did
It was not because of Edward that I followed the path that I took. I fell in love with fundraising and nonprofits when I went to work for one, when I finally found that my work could be about more than putting money in other people’s pockets.
But it is in part because of Edward that I have continued on the path. Like every job, mine has its ups and downs. I work very hard and very long hours, and I frequently sacrifice time with my husband, my family and friends to “take care of business.”
For all this time, even today, nearly 13 years after his death, I think of Edward and feel a renewed commitment to my work.
Our work at CJW helps fundraisers do their work – it’s a small part in helping them be what Edward was to CHASI. I often say that I feel privileged to have been able to serve the nonprofit community for such a long time. This is why.
I honor Edward with my work. I remember him, today and always.l
posted by Cheryl J. Weissman at
4:06 PM
1 Comments:
Well, you can tell I don't often look at your blog, because you wrote this one on Memorial Day, and it is now late November! But that was a beautiful tribute to Edward. God didn't make many like him, did He?
-Rosalie
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