Edward W. Pischedda

Edward William Pischedda, 64, a retired public servant, died Monday, Nov. 24, 2003, in Arlington.

Memorial service: 7 p.m. Monday in the Chapel at Fielder Road Baptist Church, 1313 West Pioneer Parkway and South Fielder in southern Arlington; Dr. Gary Smith, pastor of Fielder Road Baptist Church, will officiate. Ed's body was donated to Southwestern Medical School in Dallas. Burial: His ashes will be interred at a later date.

Memorials: In lieu of flowers, the survivors ask that contributions be sent to the Trinity Kids Fund for Abused Children, c/o Fielder Road Baptist Church, 1323 West Pioneer Parkway, Arlington, Texas 76013 or to the River Legacy Foundation, 2111 North Collins Street, Suite 301 Arlington 76011.

Ed was born in Elizabeth, N.J. on Nov. 17, 1939, to Giovanni J. (John) Jr. and Catherine Heintz Pischedda, of Italy and of Elizabeth, N.J., respectively. He graduated from Westfield High School in Westfield, N.J. in 1957; that fall he began attending American University in Washington, D.C., the first in his family to attend college.

In 1961, Ed graduated from AU with a BA in economics and began his successful career with the US Department of Labor in Washington, D.C. In 1966 he went west and brought his young family to Irving and, in 1972, to Arlington. He continued this career with the Department of Labor, retiring in 1995 following numerous promotions.

Bored with retirement, Ed later resumed his career in public life. His last employer was the Tarrant County Sheriff's Office, which he left in 2002. Ed was an enthusiastic member of Fielder Road Baptist Church.

Ed was preceded in death by his father in 1976, by his mother and by his half-sister, Rachel, both in 1994.

Survivors: Daughter, Suzanne Karen of Dallas; son, Edward Robert of Portland, Ore.; sisters, Eleanor Pischedda Wall of Linden, N.J., Carol Pischedda Genova of Fanwood, N.J. and Nancy Pischedda Cancellieri of Barnegat, N.J.; brothers, William James of Forked River, N.J. and Robert Paul of Toms River, N.J.; and by devoted friend Gladys (Liz) Jabalera and her children Mario, Jason and Emely, all of Arlington.