Remembrances

Please send your remembrances to news@chasealum.org.

From Hans van den Houten: The sad news reached me through Facebook on November 26 that Ed has passed away. So unexpected to hear about this here in our far reaches of the Netherlands. Ed and I became connected in 1975, when the Corporate Development Group was disbanded and several of the groups officers were transferred to Ed’s group in International. Since I had been responsible for the expansion of the bank in the Far East, Ed suggested that we take a grand tour to review the still outstanding possibilities and to meet with those running newly acquired entities, as well as our colleagues in the region. This trip gave me a chance to get to know Ed. He was a pleasure to be around, and we quickly tuned in on a similar wavelength. He was supportive, quick to understand the special circumstances in the region and a cheerful  and warm companion on the road. After I had left his area for the Francophone region of Africa, we maintained our contact within the bank. When I left for other horizons, we stayed in touch, and Ed was an early supporter of the Chase Alumni Association, when this was founded in 1988.

     I will miss his Facebook postings of his various activities, be it travel, interests or family events. I will miss his cheerful disposition and his sharp and pointed commentary. I will miss Ed as a warm and trusted colleague of those days at Chase. To Pat and his daughter, may you both find strength during these difficult days in the many good memories of a fine man. May he rest in peace.

From Bill Kaufmann: Like many who had the privilege of working with Ed, I was enormously distressed to learn of his passing.  What a uniquely capable and nice guy!  Fun loving, argumentative, sensitive and smarter than most of us, Ed never sought the limelight, but provided invaluable guidance to executives at all levels of Chase.  These are among the many reasons Frank Stankard and so many other top leaders greatly valued his support and friendship.  As just one example, it is highly unlikely that Private Banking International ever would have been launched without Ed's serious help.  We had come up with the idea of using Air Miles as an incentive to increase cross-selling around the world of our otherwise somewhat mundane but very profitable deposit products at 410 Park Avenue.  We needed $1 million (a lot at the time) to implement the marketing program.  Having just returned from a six-year leave of absence, I had no clue how to justify it.  Ed was intrigued by the idea, stepped in, prepared a full analysis and ROI proposal, and then convinced Bill Ogden to give it a shot.  If I remember correctly, in just a few years, the program produced well over $500 million–one important step in increasing Chase's awareness of the potential of international private banking.  Simply stated, it would not have happened without Ed.  He was among the many, exceptionally talented but less heralded officers who were instrumental in Chase's success over the years.   Thanks Ed, and our thoughts are with you, Pat.

From Bob Mitchell: So very sorry to hear of Ed’s passing.  Ed and I worked together for years in International Planning for Frank Stankard, and I have never worked with anyone I liked better.  He was kind, generous, supportive, energetic, smart and creative, oh so creative.  I always said, give Ed any task – design an anti-gravity machine or a whole new government from scratch – and he’d pull out a yellow pad and begin sketching a solution.  No task daunted him.  But despite his talents and accomplishments, he always took the time to mentor his people.  He was a team leader, not a boss.
     He will be sorely missed by all who knew him well.