Edmund E. Benedikt

1930 - 2015

Edmund E. Benedikt
1930 - 2015
BATH - Edmund E. Benedikt, died on the morning of February 8, 2015, at Mid-Coast Hospital. He was 84 years old.
Edmund was born in Vienna on Dec. 27, 1930. He was seven years old when Nazi Germany annexed Austria and began to extend its genocidal campaign against Jews. He and his sister, Lucie Benedikt, were brought to England in the Kindertransport, the rescue mission that saved 10,000 children from the Holocaust. He lived in various foster home placements in England for almost five years and came to the U.S. in 1943.
For most of his professional life, Edmund was a naval architect working on the design, maintenance and performance of U.S. Naval Ships. He was a graduate of Drexel University and held a Master's degree in Engineering from Pennsylvania State University.
Ed was a passionate advocate for environmental protection and was active in many Maine environmental organizations; among them the Brunswick Conservation Commission, the Bath Forestry Committee, the Brunswick Area Citizens for a Safe Environment, the Friends of Casco Bay, the Friends of Merrymeeting Bay and the New Meadows Lake Association.
He was president of the Sons of Israel Synagogue of Clayton, N.J., and president and treasurer of Beth Israel Congregation in Bath. He was active in the leadership of the Brunswick Area Interfaith Council.
Ed was very committed to the role of government in helping people. He served on many governmental groups and contributed his time and efforts to political campaigns and to the local, state, and national Democratic Party. In 1995 and 1996, Edmund was the Maine State Representative for District 49 in Brunswick.
He liked hiking, bicycling, skiing and – most of all – sailing. He was a sailboat owner for more than 60 years and spent many happy hours sailing on Long Island Sound and, since moving to Maine in 1989, on Casco Bay. He enjoyed travel and had been in many countries and on all seven continents.
He is survived by his wife, Ruth; his two sons, Daniel and Michael, his daughter Elizabeth; his daughter-in-law, Kimberly Smith Benedikt, his son-in-law Brian Waehler; his sister, Lucie Benedikt; and his granddaughter, Jessie Isabella Smith Benedikt.
A memorial service and commemoration of his life will be held at 4 p.m. on Sunday, Feb. 15, at the Beth Israel Congregation in Bath. Burial will be at the Beth Israel Congregation Lot, Oak Grove Cemetery in Bath. Arrangements are by Daigle Funeral Home, 819 High St., Bath. Condolences may be made online at
www.Daiglefuneralhome.com

In lieu of flowers,
his family suggests a
donation to the
Friends of Merrymeeting Bay
P.O. Box 233
Richmond, Maine 04357