Edward P. Lyons ’53 died on March 16, 2017, in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

(The following was first published in The Gazette from March 28 to April 2, 2017:)

Edward Palmer Lyons, 85, passed away March 16, 2017, from complications of Parkinson’s. He was born in Floral Park (Long Island), New York, and lived there until he was fourteen. He was valedictorian of his high school class in New Hampshire, received his B.A. (cum laude) from Bowdoin College (Maine) in 1953, and his M.A. in history from Rutgers University (New Jersey) in 1992.

He held upper management positions in various parts of the Bell Telephone System for thirty-eight years, retiring in 1991. He enjoyed music; he sang in church choirs, played clarinet in the New Horizons Band 2002-2013, and attended concerts and musical. He had a song in his heart. As a student, he played a wide variety of sports, and as an adult he took up distance running, sailing, skiing, and hiking. He enjoyed gardening, theater, bridge, church activities and travel.

Edward could talk to anyone. He was considered by all who knew him to be friendly and kind, always a gentleman. He never admitted to pain and he never complained. An African-American professor in the Rutgers Graduate School said it best when he told Ed, “You are a man of enviable character.”

Edward is survived by his wife of thirty-eight years, Cory; four children from a former marriage, Pamela Lyons, Kathryn Lyons Egan, David Lyons and James Lyons; an adopted daughter, Donna Lyons James; two step-children Barbara Casterline Riznik and David Casterline; six grandchildren; five great-grandchildren.