A Celebration of Ed Waesche's Life will be held at his alma mater, Princeton University, on Friday, June 30, 1 pm 3 pm. Location: Princeton University Chapel, 110 West College, Princeton, NJ. Contact Jack Pinto, phone (609) 581-5850.

J. Edward Waesche III, noted arranger, music judge and former Society president, died May 2, 2006 of cancer at the age of 74.

Ed's widow, Kate, has requested donations to Harmony Foundation, in lieu of flowers.

Indeed, we have lost a giant, a member of our Society's Hall of Fame, a man of many talents who dedicated a large part of his life to both musical and administrative service. He will be sorely missed, said Drayton Justus, Society president.

Ed's passing is a tremendous loss,said Ed Watson, executive director of the Barbershop Harmony Society. Not only did he leave an indelible mark on the Society and the people he met, but he touched the lives of thousands through his music.

Ed had written some 600 arrangements, many of them performed on the contest stage. He had a long record of leadership in his 49 years as a Barbershopper. He had served on the Society Board for 10 years and was president in 1998 and 1999. A certified Music category judge, he was a past chair of the Society Contest & Judging Committee and the World Harmony Council. He also had served as a Harmony Foundation trustee.

Ed had been a respected member of the Harmony University faculty for more than 20 years. He had sung with three top-20 quartets over a 20-year span, most recently with The New Yorkers, past Mid-Atlantic quartet champion. Ed was a member of the Manhattan and Five Towns College chapters in New York, the Easton, Pennsylvania, Chapter, and the North Carolina Harmony Brigade.

He was inducted into the Society's Hall of Fame in 2005 at the international convention held in Salt Lake City in recognition of his exceptional contributions to the barbershop experience.

He lived on Long Island, New York, with his wife, Kate. He spent 43 years in the aerospace industry as designer, project engineer and strategic planner.

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We lost our dear brother Ed Waesche after weeks and months of a protracted battle with a fast-growing lymphoma. This was Ed's third incident of cancer and was simply too much, too fast for any real hope of survival.

Ed's contributions to The Society were boundless, but none so remarkable as his service as a Music judge and arranger. We will miss him terribly.

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Ed's passing is a huge loss to the Barbershop Harmony Society and to the art form of Barbershop singing. His Society CV is as impressive as any you will ever see. When Ed died he was a member of the Manhattan, Easton, and 5 Towns College Chapters. He sang in two M-AD District Champion quartets. Ed was also a founder of the now defunct Plainview and Riverhead LI Chapters, a founding member of 5 Towns, and a member of Delasusquehudmac, the Mid Atlantic District's Honor Chapter. Ed was was also a member of the Mid Atlantic District Hall of Honor.

In the course of his long, and distinguished, Barbershop career Ed Waesche served as President of the Mid Atlantic District, SPEBSQSA International President, International Contest & Judging Chairman, Mid Atlantic District Contest & Judging Chairman, and as a long time Certified Music Judge. Ed also served as a faculty member at Harmony College and at many District Mini HEPs. Ed was one of our Society's brightest and most capable administrators.

Of course, Ed Waesche will best be remembered as one of Barbershopping's most gifted and prolific arrangers. He was a man of incredible musical taste and uncompromising musical standards. His arrangements of standards such as The Sweetheart of Sigma Chi have become Barbershop classics and will be sung as long as there are four guys out there who love to ring 'em.

Ed was a Charter member of the BAC, and one of its first Assistant Directors under Founding Director Don Clause. His arrangements for our chorus were in large measure responsible for the BAC's early success, and he served during those years as our in-house arranger. Ed's passing is a loss to everyone who loves Barbershop singing.

We extend our most sincere condolences to Ed's wife Kate and to his family. Ed Waesche will be honored and remembered for as long as there is a Barbershop Harmony Society. Rest in peace, my brother.

-Dan George
Manhattan BHS
Big Apple Chorus

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Ed was a giant in our hobby - a past International president, Music judge, Arrangement judge, arranger and quartet guy. And an original and ongoing member of the Manhattan chapter.

We all sing Ed's music - he was one of the most influential arrangers in our entire artform.

Ed LOVED this hobby and he lived for it - he will be sorely missed.

Joe Hunter
Director
Big Apple Chorus

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The BAC lost a member, the society lost a great man, and I lost a friend with the passing of Ed Waesche. There will be no service, which was his wish. Our hearts go out to Kate and his family; we'll each find our own way to remember him, and his music will remain with us forever.

Jon Ayers
President
Big Apple Chorus

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Ed Waesche's passing is a great loss to our singing fraternity, however, his arrangements will continue to endure as amongst the most cherished by barbershoppers throughout the world.

This local brother Barbershopper (Huntington, LI) was a Northern Division "gold nugget" whose talent was shared unselfishly with our International community.

I have often learned Ed's arrangements right off the record as sung by "Blue Grass Student Union" and many other International Champs. They were eminently singable. As a fellow baritone, his arrangements made chord progression sense for the learning process. Barbershoppers "loved" Ed's arrangements for a multitude of reasons. He picked songs that really were fun and/or endearing to sing. He was one of my most favorite tag arrangers as well. I 've even had my Colombian wife, sister-in-law and her boyfriend learn the tag to "Midnight Rose"! We could sing it all night and still get a thrill with the "lock and ring" naturalness of Ed's inimitable style.

"The Glory of Love" and "L-O-V-E" (a la Nat K.C.) were the last songs learned and sung in contest by "Yankee Dime" which Ed arranged. (did I mention Ed picked great songs?)

A man of great humility whose deeds spoke hughly of his love for this hobby, and especially, his fellow singers. I will miss him.

And as Ed's tag of the BAC's first International competition ballad so aptly stated: "Just sing the song that reached my heart..... sing me that song again!"

Joe Husstege
Big Apple Chorus

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Twelve years ago, as a total neophyte barbershopper, " Ed Waesche" was the first 'name' that I associated with the hobby - it was ubiquitous and prominent on the sheet music, and, as it turned out, synonymous with great, fun music. Yes, he will be missed.

Harold Weinberger
Big Apple Chorus

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As we all know, my father, Dave Deitch, has been a barbershopper for over 40 years. Some of those years were as a charter member of the now-defunct Plainview chapter on Long Island, which Dan George said Ed had founded. Dad knew Ed to be a consummate musician. One of his memories of Ed is one year when Ed and Kate hosted the chapter holiday party. There came a point during the night when everyone realized that Ed was missing. No one could find him. Upon searching the house, he was found sitting at the piano, working on a new arrangement. He said the idea popped into his head and he had to work it out right then and there.

My own memories of Ed begin when I officially joined the Society at age 15. Plainview had since merged with another chapter to form the now-defunct Huntington-North Shore Chapter, which claimed such directors as Frank Imperiale and the late, great Dave Johnson (Ed's great friend, and lead of the 1982 District Champs, The New Yorkers). When I joined, Ed was directing. We were only a C level chorus then, but we sang prototypes of many of Ed's arrangements which would become popular in the early Big Apple years, songs such as "I Wouldn't Trade the Silver in My Mother's Hair," "Sing Me That Song, Again" and the "Girls Medley," which became a hit on early Big Apple shows (remember Ken Reiss crooning "Sweet Sixteen?" Well I remember Rudy Warns crooning it before him).

After my first chapter show with this chorus, Ed said to my father and me at the afterglow that we already have the quartet contracted for the following year's show. It was The Cincinnati Kids. This was in 1982 and we had never heard of them, but Ed assured us that they will astound us. Sure enough, that summer, they made the finals in International, and on our next show, they astounded, as advertised. I have been a fan of Scott, et al, ever since.

Thanks, Ed, for being such a great influence on a then-young barbershopper, then continuing to be a great influence on all barbershoppers, all these years. May your music continue to bring peace and joy to all who sing it and hear it.

Steve Deitch

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Ed was a good friend and supporter of my quartet Yankee Dime, and was overwhelmingly generous to us, sending us arrangements and having impromptu coaching sessions with us when our paths would cross. His frankness and wit will be sorely missed, but my memories of him will always be tied strongest to his music that has moved me on so many occasions and doubtless will for years to come.

Eddie Holt

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