Edi Franceschini

1929 - 2025

Edi Franceschini

West Hatfield, MA - Edi Franceschini, 95, of West Hatfield passed away peacefully at home on July 10th. He was surrounded by his loving family who had cared for him throughout his illness. Hospice of the Fisher Home provided wonderful support in the last months of his life. Edi is survived by his wife, Lucy, daughter, Melinda, granddaughter, Leela, and Melinda's partner, Peter Norton. Edi and Lucy fell in love the first night they met on a blind date. Edi asked Lucy to marry him five days later and they were happily married for 63 years.

Edi was born in New York City but always loved the country, and eventually he and Lucy moved with their daughter's family to Hatfield. There he happily spent his last years, taking rides in his much loved electric car, walking in the beautiful countryside, cooking wonderful plant-based meals for his whole family, tending a flower and herb garden, and generally caring for everyone, even in his old age. Living with his family, especially with his granddaughter, Leela, brought great delight to his later years.

Edi had a wonderful smile and a playful twinkle in his eye, a man beloved by his family, friends, and those who worked with and for him over the years. He was a very kind and friendly man who loved talking with people as well as enjoying his own company. On his walks and when running errands he loved encountering and speaking with strangers, often starting with a joke and getting into lighthearted conversations, brightening their and his day. Edi was a very funny man who could keep a whole room of people laughing with stories and humorous ideas, always with meaning, never with any mean-spirited content.

Edi was highly knowledgeable in numerous fields, always finding new interests to explore and master, e.g. philosophy, mathematics, sailing, cooking, winemaking, and making and fixing things with his hands. When young, Edi studied music including with a student of Alban Berg. He played piano, clarinet and saxophone. Edi grew up and lived in Greenwich Village in NYC at a cultural high point. As a young man he frequented the Cedar Street Tavern, a meeting place for Abstract Expressionst painters, avant-garde composers and New York School poets, becoming friendly with many of them including Willem de Kooning, Joan Mitchell, Larry Rivers, Grace Hartigan, Frank O'Hara and Morton Feldman. Edi was also an actor in his early 20's and appeared in a number of off Broadway shows as well as summer stock in Delaware.

Edi became interested in computing at an early point in its development, initially working with punched cards, and became a computer programmer. After working for a few companies, including Combustion Engineering in Connecticut and Decision Systems in New Jersey, he was hired as a research scientist by New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences where he worked for 35 years, becoming Deputy Director of Academic Computing. He got to know the faculty throughout the university providing the interface between the Academic Computing Facility and the different disciplines, introducing them to the developing world of modern computing. A colleague described him as "far and away the best boss I ever had." With NYU as a base, Edi was one of the people who, in the 1960's, helped develop the Internet, contributing substantially to the creation of the Arpanet, the Advanced Research Projects Agency Network, the Internet's forerunner.

After he retired, Edi returned to his great love for music. He had always wanted to compose, after an initial bout in his 20's, and now he had the time. Using his knowledge of computers and an electric piano connected to a computer, Edi initially used synthesized, then sampled sounds, accessed through a keyboard, to record himself playing and creating multiple overlapping tracks of what might be called contemporary classical music. However, it was something very much his own where, as he said, "the planned activity of the composer meets the improviser, as in jazz," where the results could be fresh and unexpected. He created a number of CDs of his music. This was a very happy period for him where he finally was able to give full expression to his creativity, providing a fulfilling last chapter to a long and fruitful life.

Edi is sorely missed, but his generous openhearted way of being leaves all who knew and loved him with a beautiful legacy of memories and a template for how to live a good life.