Edward Walsh

Edward M. Walsh Apr. 2, 1932 to Dec. 3, 2010 Edward M. Walsh passed away peacefully on Dec. 3, 2010 from lung disease in his San Francisco home surrounded by his loving family. One of 7 children of Edward and Catherine Walsh, Ed was a native San Franciscan, who loved history, literature, and language. Growing up, Ed with his friends and siblings, Mary, Kathleen, Patrick, Thomas, Eileen and Ann, considered Golden Gate Park to be their backyard. They swam with the turtles in the Park's lakes, caught crabs from the Bay's piers, and rode the street car to Sutro Baths. It is testament to his character and loyalty, that Ed remained close to the friends he made in his early years in the Sunset, at St. Anne's, and at St. Ignatius and USF where he continued his education with the Jesuits. Throughout the years he enjoyed these friends, watching Monday Night Football, engaging in 49er banter, playing handball and basketball at the Olympic Club and more recently, a proud member of the Olympic Club's senior fitness group. Ed was a 1st Lt. in the U.S. Army, stationed in Munich, Germany in 1955 during the U.S. Occupation, when he met the love of his life, Gunild von Prittwitz. After he returned to the states, Ed and Gunild exchanged love letters for 2 years, culminating with a one sentence telegram, in which Ed asked Gunild to marry him. Ed was a great writer and this was clearly the best sentence he ever wrote. Ed and Gunild were married in 1958. To their children, it seemed and still seems like a storybook romance. Fifty-two years later, they were as much in love as they were on their wedding day. Theirs is a relationship that death cannot part. Their loving partnership inspired their 4 daughters, Corinne Burrell, Heide Kurtz (Laurence Kurtz), Vivian Walsh, and Moira Walsh (Michael McQuaid), and family and friends. As a newly married man, Ed attended law school and worked 3 jobs. He earned a law degree from Hastings and was admitted to practice law in 1960. As an attorney, Ed soon was appointed a Bankruptcy Trustee in San Francisco and later Oakland, a position he held for over 45 years. He was a pillar of the legal community, as highly respected for his candor and wit as for his legal skills and integrity. In 1965, Ed and Gunild moved into their lifelong home in Presidio Terrace, which has been a welcoming place for friends, family and neighbors for over 46 years and holds countless memories. For Ed, life was all about working hard, saving money, and providing for his family. Ed was singularly successful in this regard and provided his family with a wonderful life without sacrificing his family life to his career. As busy as he was at work, Ed was always home by 6pm for dinner with his family, greeted by his loving daughters and a 3-course meal prepared by Gunild, always served by candlelight. Ed was a warm, loving father. He provided his daughters an idyllic childhood. His 10 grandchildren basked in his love and attention. Ed spent virtually every weekend for the past 26 years with Gunild, family and friends, at Stinson Beach, swimming in the ocean and lagoon, gardening, walking his dog on the beach, and hosting as master of the barbeque. Ed traveled throughout the world with Gunild and he was proud of his extensive list of states and countries visited. A voracious reader, he always had a book in hand and could recall every morsel of what he read. In his final 2 weeks, he was never without Master and Commander, the first in the beloved series of books by Patrick O'Brien. To paraphrase Shakespeare, "He was a man; take him for all in all, we shall not look upon his like again." Family and Friends are invited to attend the Funeral Mass, Friday, Dec 10 at 10:00am, St. Ignatius Church, 650 Parker Ave, San Francisco, followed by the Burial at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma.