Edward Francis Gerwin, Sr.

Edward Francis Gerwin, Sr., 94, passed into the loving embrace of God on October 30, 2021. He was born on December 3, 1926, to the late Zygmunt and Caroline Gerwin and raised in Albany, N.Y. Despite the hardships of the Great Depression, his parents saved enough money to send him to Christian Brothers Academy, a Catholic military high school in Albany. In 1944, at the height of World War II, Ed was accepted into the Navy’s V-12 program, receiving his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Rochester in 1947. He was honorably discharged from the U. S. Naval Reserve in 1959 with the rank of Lieutenant (j.g.).

Throughout his 40-year career as an engineer, Ed advanced from draftsman to Chief Engineer of the M. W. Kellogg Company to Vice-President of Pullman Power Products. He specialized in the development of the power piping industry, designing and supervising the construction of nuclear power plants and their components throughout the country. In later years, Ed travelled the world giving lectures on power piping and authored a section of Piping Handbook, a classic in the power piping industry, now in its seventh edition. In 1988, Ed was awarded the B. F. Langer Nuclear Codes and Standards Award from the American Society of Mechanical Engineers. He retired the same year.

The two bedrocks of Ed’s life were his wife and his Catholic faith. In 1948, Ed married his high school sweetheart, the love of his life, Eileen Margaret Soraghan. Ed and Eileen had six children, whom they raised in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania as Ed’s work evolved. Wherever they lived, Ed and Eileen were beloved neighbors and devoted and active participants in their Catholic parish communities.

After Ed’s retirement, having spent forty years in Williamsport, Pennsylvania, Ed and Eileen moved to the Charlestown Retirement Community in Baltimore in 2003. There he and Eileen continued their active service in the Our Lady of Angels Parish Community. Ed and Eileen kept their wedding-day promise to pray the daily Family Rosary through the 66 years of their marriage, until Eileen’s death in 2014. Ed continued to pray the rosary daily until his final illness, including in his intentions the long list of people who had asked for his prayers. He enjoyed solving Sudoku puzzles, reading history, and afternoon happy hours. He ended every visit or phone call from his children and grandchildren with his special blessing.

Ed is the beloved husband of the late Eileen Soraghan Gerwin; precious father of Marianne Reichelt (Albert), Edward Gerwin (the late Mary), John Gerwin (Diane), Eileen Zerhusen (Thomas), Patricia Logue (Thomas), and Michael Gerwin (Sarah). Grandfather of Kate Gerwin and Kristen Kahntroff (Jeffrey), Megan Reichelt (Lee Liebeskind), Brian Reichelt (Jennifer), Samuel Gerwin (Ashley), William and Maureen Gerwin, John Zerhusen (Caitlin Haskell), Carolyn Zerhusen (Grant Goldberg), Thomas (Trip) Logue, and Niko and Alli Gerwin. He is also survived by three great-grandsons and an expected great-granddaughter.

Family will receive friends at the Harry Witzke’s Family Funeral Home, 4112 Old Columbia Pike, Ellicott City, on Friday, November 5, 2021, from 5 – 7pm.  A viewing will be held at Our Lady of Angels Chapel, Charlestown Retirement Community, 711 Maiden Choice Lane, Baltimore on Saturday, November 6, beginning at 11am, where a Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated at 12:00 noon. Internment following at New Cathedral Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Charlestown Retirement Community Benevolent Care Fund or to Gilchrist Hospice.

Masks are required at the viewing and the funeral Mass. In order to protect our elderly friends, family and others who are at risk of complications from COVID-19, the family requests that those attending be vaccinated against COVID-19.  Those who are unvaccinated are most welcome to view the service HERE.  

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