Edward Martin Canino

Canino Edward Martin Canino died peacefully on March 28th, 2023, in the Baltimore home he shared with his wife Kaija. He was surrounded by family and visited by a steady stream of visitors over his final days - a testament to the great love he inspired in those who knew him.

Ed, or "Marty" as his family called him growing up, was born in Brooklyn, NY, the first of two sons. He was the child of immigrants: his mother Luz was from Puerto Rico, though she had spent her early years in a New York City orphanage, and his father Martin Edward came from Venezuela. His father's work took the family back to South America in the 1940s, where he and his younger brother Jimmy navigated the shift from Latinos in New York City to gringos in the Amazon.

After his family returned to the States, Ed attended Brooklyn Technical High School, excelling at gymnastics and being hip, with a deep appreciation of art, jazz, and black turtlenecks. He attended Cooper Union in Manhattan, where he studied architecture, before marrying and moving on to the University of Oregon to earn an advanced degree in urban planning while building houses and modding sports cars. After graduating, Ed came back east to work at the Georgetown architectural practice of his friend Joe Handwerger. Always a lover of the sea, he crossed the Atlantic by sail with a three-man crew.

A creature of the radical '60s, Ed grew a magnificent beard, joined a commune, and met his second wife Linda between advanced asanas at a yoga ashram. Their shared interest in spirituality brought them to a frostbitten commune in Thunder Bay, Canada, where the yogi christened him "Jesu Das" or "devotee of Jesus," due to his growing interest in the Bible. The couple eventually moved to Maine, operated a pizza parlor for a time, and joined a growing missionary church. Over the next decades they dedicated much of their time and skills to it as it grew and put down new roots, first in Lenox, Massachusetts, and then in Baltimore.

Ed's urban planning work took him all over the world, from India to Malawi to Egypt to El Salvador, and he savored the sights and sounds of other cultures. He loved world music, amassing an impressive collection of instruments which he played with surprising degrees of untrained skill, though he was most comfortable on guitar. He spoke Spanish fluently and had a ready supply of phrases in other languages that he would toss out when coming across people from other parts of the world. In Creole: "Blessed be the Lord," in Arabic: "I'd like a cup of hot water; and in Finnish, "I love cake." Spanish speakers were treated to his whole life story, whether he came across them at the DMV, at a highway toll booth, or at the urinals in a crowded baseball stadium bathroom.

As the 70s progressed, his family grew. First came daughter Rebecca, born when the family lived briefly in Venezuela, followed by Rachel and Lucas. Ed's travels around the world continued, and he often freely combined his urban planning duties for USAID with missionary activities. In the 80s, he spearheaded two programs - Operation Seareach and The International Warehouse Ministry - that combined medical relief with missionary work in various parts of the Caribbean and Central America. Believing that feeding and ministering to the poor was an essential part of Christian life - a principle he called 'our reasonable service' - Ed traveled to Norway to oversee the inspection and purchase of a retired vessel that would sail the Caribbean from its base in Florida as Mission Ship La Gracia.

After moving to Maryland, Ed's evangelical zeal increasingly crossed over into his professional life, and he began specializing in church architecture. Brother Ed, as he was known to many of the congregations he worked with, designed numerous places of worship on the East Coast, including the New Psalmist Baptist Church and Trinity Assembly of God churches in Baltimore. Always ready to offer his skills wherever they were needed, he often performed work for poorer churches in exchange for payment in baked goods.

In 2003, Ed married Kaija, expanding his family circle to include her four daughters and their families. He also became ordained as a pastor at Greater Grace World Outreach, and spent many years late in life doing what he loved best, sharing God's love with friends and strangers in Spain and Finland among other places. After moving back to the States and in spite of being diagnosed with Alzheimer's, Ed continued his mission work in Puerto Rico, visiting regularly until his health no longer permitted it.

Ed believed in living fully and joyfully in the present, and though over time Alzheimer's drew a shadow over his ability to speak, his good humor was largely left intact. He devoted his precious time to his wife, his kids and grandkids, sharing laughter and memories until the very end of his life. He grew silent in his final days, but there's little doubt his thoughts and dreams were of love for those around him, with perhaps one final, inward sigh of 'Oh joy.'

Ed is survived by his beloved wife, Kaija, his children, Rebecca, Rachel and Lucas, his stepchildren, Eeva, Anna, Ruut and Saara, and his many grandchildren. A celebration of Ed's life will take place on April 30, 2023 at 1 pm at Greater Grace Church.