Ed Missavage

Edward Colman Missavage of Surfside Beach, TX moved on to his next adventure on September 18, taking along his intellect, artistic skills, sense of humor and deep radio voice. A brief intense illness resulted in acute respiratory failure. He was 61.
Born on Father's Day 1958, he was the first son of Freda A. Dunnam MD and Edward Missavage Jr MD. Growing up in Farmington Hills, Michigan, he joined his sisters Anne and Karen in early childhood and school activities, riding their bikes to Wooddale elementary and all over their compact neighborhood. Younger siblings Gwen and Paul arrived in the 1960s. The family made many happy memories at events and places around metro Detroit: Bob-Lo, the Thanksgiving Parade, the Michigan State Fair, the Franklin Cider Mill, Kensington Metropark, the flower show at Cobo Hall, Greenfield Village, Cranbrook, the Detroit Institute of Art, Edgewater Park, and the Detroit Zoo. We had a trampoline in our backyard, and it became a popular place for neighborhood kids to visit.
We moved to Beverly Hills, Michigan in 1969. Ed attended Berkshire Junior High where he joined the Boy Scouts, and played basketball, trombone in the band, and Little League baseball (he towered over his teammates). He and Karen rode their bikes to Birmingham Groves High School (they became charter members of the school cycling team), joined the American Youth Hostels bicycle club and pedaled all over Oakland county. Ed continued on the junior varsity basketball team at Groves, then joined the group of theater and auditorium technicians putting on the Big Band Jazz Series. He and his friend Craig MacIntosh formed a mobile DJ company called the Disco Co.
Ed continued to Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, followed by study at the local community college. He transferred to Michigan State University, finishing his advertising and communication BA in 1981. While living in Lansing, he entered rental property management and the hospitality industry. He continued to support Spartan teams from afar, appreciating a college T-shirt in his final weeks.
The 1982 Michigan recession sent Ed to Texas. He joined the Towering Texans chapter of Tall Clubs International in Houston (TTOH), serving as president, newsletter editor, and a host of other roles over the years. He was elected Mr Tall Houston in a pageant. He enjoyed playing in various darts leagues, where he had a major advantage over other players; his long arm reached halfway to the board.
In 1983, Ed met Ellen Sue Peacher through the Tall Club. They married in 1988, and divorced in 2018.
Professionally, Ed worked in advertising, media buying, technical writing, and graphic design. He developed a sideline business, a small marketing agency that took on public relations and marketing projects. For a time he followed the family tradition of sewing, making Frostline kit ski suits for himself and Ellen, and a travel bag to hold their sets of skis. Unique and creative Halloween costumes were a specialty. He also did home renovations and created wooden furniture, curios, plastics, fiberglass, framed art, metals and castings, and he self-published an annual family calendar featuring photos and birthdays. He and Ellen completed many home renovation projects: reupholstering furniture, laying laminate flooring, revising the bathrooms and kitchen of their home on Ella Lee Lane. Ed developed his green thumb, proudly harvesting early spring crops that included tomatoes and peppers.
Ed loved to take charter fishing trips out into the Gulf of Mexico, leaving on overnights and returning with a cooler full of his catches. He became a boat owner in the 2000s, starting with a 19' Bayliner Trophy, then a 34' Chris Craft Stinger docked at a gulfside marina. In 2012 he purchased a vacant canal lot in Surfside Beach and had a custom house built there, complete with a boat dock and lift, a screened gazebo fish cleaning station, and a huge deck laden with fish-motif collectibles. He then moved up to a 28' Boston Whaler in 2016.
Ed dabbled in acting work, performing in several film and advertising projects, including as a stand-in for Yao Ming of the Houston Rockets, and actor Peter Weller in "Robocop 2." He participated in charity events that included his hobbies of fishing and boating, raising money for good causes and auctioning off boat trips.
In 2017 his contract job ended, and with it, Ed retired from the corporate world. He moved to his canal house in Surfside Beach, and spent his time working on fully renovating a house in nearby Freeport. He was looking forward to building his life by the gulf and making new friends.
Ed was a humanitarian, an agnostic, a liberal Democrat, a diplomat, and a good Samaritan.
Ed was preceded in death by his brother Paul (1965-1969) and his parents, along with his cat Mightor and beloved rescue dogs Margo, Kiska, Buddy, Prince Rupert, Missy, Buster, and Betsy. He is survived by his Chihuahuas Toby and Harvey, sisters Anne Missavage, Karen Dunnam, and Gwen Crockford, nieces Karen and Laura Clark, two brothers-in-law, his ex-wife Ellen Missavage, uncle and aunt Edwin and Juanita Missavage, several cousins, his good friends John Daly, Amanda Mounce, Casey and Cindy Nordin, the wider community of Towering Texans of Houston, and the Surfside friends.
Per his wishes, cremation has taken place. Ed's final resting place is in the waters of the Gulf of Mexico.