Edward P. Deignan

Edward Philip Deignan, age 80, passed away on Thursday, November 24, 2016, at his Elizabeth home in the loving company of his wife Patricia. Visitation services will be held this Tuesday, November 29, 2016, from 4:00-8:00pm at Higgins and Bonner Echo Lake Funeral Home in Westfield. Funeral services will be held at 10:00am on Wednesday, November 30, 2016, at St. Genevieve’s Roman Catholic Church in Elizabeth.

A lifelong resident of Elizabeth, Ed was born to Margaret (Klomp) and Edward Francis Deignan, the city’s longtime fire chief. He graduated from St. Patrick’s High School (Elizabeth) in 1954 and Seton Hall University in 1958, before serving dutifully in the infantry division of the U.S. Army and later in the Army Reserves. I

n 1965, he began his 51-year journey with his loving wife Pat (Ward), raising a family in the same St. Genevieve’s parish where Ed was baptized. He is survived by his daughter Cathleen and son-in-law Scott (McAleer), his son Edward Jr. and daughter-in-law Elizabeth, his son Kevin and daughter-in-law Alexandra, and his four grandchildren, Eddie, Lainey, Keira and Stephen. He is also survived by his sisters Maureen Diorio and Eileen Delhagen, and preceded in death by his brother Bob, whom he can now meet in heaven to re-initiate their lifelong debate over who was taller.

He spent his entire career in finance, spanning 30+ years across various capacities in healthcare finance, including service at the Visiting Nurses Health Service in Elizabeth, at MCOSS in Red Bank, and at The Center for Hope in Linden. After retiring from finance, Ed volunteered his time as a development director for his alma mater St. Patrick’s, but most of all directed his considerable energies toward a busy schedule of recreational activities as a devoted husband, brother, father and grandfather. He was perhaps most proud of his tenure as a pennant-winning softball and baseball coach in the Elmora Youth League, where decades later, the exact translations of his coaching instructions remain the topic of considerable debate and fond laughter.

Every single day of his life was well spent, regaling his family and friends with his wisdom, his wit, and perhaps his favorite of all, his encyclopedia of self-deprecating stories that required no embellishment to bring the room to raucous laughter and tears of joy. Ed’s memory will surely resound for decades, as he has made us all better friends, more devoted family members, stronger students and completely unapologetic storytellers. We will carry his lessons with us forever, and will pass them along to future generations of Deignans and our extended community.

We love you dearly. Rest in peace.

In lieu of flowers, please contribute in Ed’s memory to the Seton Hall University’s Pirate Blue Fund (http://shupirates.com/index.aspx?path=pirateblue/), 400 South Orange Avenue, South Orange, NJ 07079.

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