Edward C. Malarkey

Edward (Eb) Cornelius Malarkey, of Severna Park, Maryland, and formerly of Girardville, PA, was born
December 7, 1936, to Eugene F. and Mary M. (McLaughlin) Malarkey. He was very proud to be named
after his grandfather, E.C. Malarkey, aka "The Piano Man" of Girardville. In 1965, Eb married the former
Elizabeth Ann (Dolan) Dee of Girardville.
Eb was preceded in death by his wife (2007), both parents (Mother 1978; Father 1991), brothers Thomas
E. (2009) and Eugene F. (2019), and grandson Evan Charles (2004).
Eb is survived by son Timothy P., his wife Stephanie and their children Abigail E., Jake E., and Zane B.;
step-son Edward M. Dee, his wife Robin and their sons Matthew, Shannon, Mark and Nathan; brother
James P. and his wife Vienna of Frederick, Maryland, and sister Mary Catherine of Girardville.
Eb was educated at St. Joseph Elementary and High School, Girardville, where he was the Class
Valedictorian in 1954, and where he played on the men's basketball team for four years.
With the help of numerous family members and friends of the family, all of whom he would often credit,
Eb enrolled at LaSalle College (now LaSalle University), in Philadelphia, in September 1954. There he
earned a BA in Chemistry (maxima cum laude), 1958, winning numerous honors and graduating 2nd in a
class of more than 500. He was awarded scholarships / assistantships to several institutions, and he
settled on attending graduate school at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (M.I.T.)
Eb enrolled at M.I.T. as a PhD candidate in Physical Chemistry in September 1958. There, he served in
several capacities and reached a number of achievements including: Teaching assistant, Chemistry
Department, 1958-59; Research assistant, Physical Chemistry, 1959-1961, 1962-1963; and Sun Oil
Corporation Fellowship, 1961-1962.
Eb's doctoral thesis research employed spectrophotometric analysis in studying the effects of substituent
groups on the ultraviolet absorption spectra of substituted benzene and naphthalene compounds in
attempts (largely successful) to elucidate the molecular electronic energy structures of those
compounds. On February 4, 1963, Eb successfully defended his thesis, and he was awarded his Ph.D. in
June, 1963. No human has ever been more proud of an accomplishment than Eb was of his Ph.D. (Sadly,
Eb was not granted time off from the early days of his first-and-only "career job" to attend his M.I.T.
graduation, but he certainly got his revenge by telling the story many times in the years to follow.)
Prior to graduation from M.I.T., Eb accepted a position with Westinghouse Electric Corporation Defense
& Space Center, in Baltimore, in the Applied Physics Group. Over the years, he held the positions of
Senior Physicist (1963-67), Fellow Physicist (1967-81), Advisory Physicist (1981-1993), and Senior
Advisory Physicist (1993 until taking early retirement in 1995).
Eb's work at Westinghouse included a number of cutting-edge scientific projects aimed at, as he would
say, keeping our country safe (something else that gave him great pride). Eb was deeply engaged in
research & development on lasers and light-emitting materials, including the development of several
types of lasers including, in particular, a green-light-emitting injection laser in cadmium sulfide (CdS), a
near-IR-emitting water vapor laser (for which he received one of his patents), and a high-energy
electron-beam-initiated carbon dioxide laser in cylindrical geometry, at its time most likely one of the
highest-powered lasers built on private (corporate) funding.
Over the years, his work at Westinghouse included the following:
• Exploration of fluorescent and phosphorescent materials that emit ultraviolet light;
• Use of Lasers in numerous information and signal processing applications;
• Development of acousto-optic materials and processes for information and signal processing;
• Early developments in Integrated Optics, a field which seeks to shrink complex optical systems
into planar structures similar in fashion to the field of integrated electronics; and
• Principal investigator on a long-term program aimed at achieving computational rates in the
trillions of complex operations per second using micro-optical components.
Eb's and his colleagues' work in Integrated Optics culminated in the development of the Integrated
Optical Radio-Frequency Spectrum Analyzer, an award-winning highly complex device capable of
identifying the frequency, and potentially, the direction of arrival of unfriendly radar or other
electronic signals within a few millionths of a second of their arrival. At the time it was by far the
most complex integrated optical device ever reduced to practice.
His last significant work noted above, on increasing the speed of computation with a system of optics
and residue arithmetic, resulted in a proof-of-principle demonstration system using off-the-shelf
componentry which succeeded in computation rates three-to-five times greater than rates then
achievable in digital computers.
Eb's time at Westinghouse led to various distinctions, including numerous publications in scientific
and technical journals; chapters in books on acousto-optic signal processing and on integrated optic
devices; several US patents on lasers and light emitting materials; and the 1981 Industrial Research
Award for the development of the spectrum analyzer.
Following his early retirement, Eb worked for several years in a quasi-paralegal role, assisting good
friends of his brother Jim, who were immigration attorneys in New York City. He took great pride in
working on the painstaking and voluminous details necessary to, in the end, bring to this country
some of the most intelligent people he had ever met (mostly to go to work in the financial sector in
NYC). In his final days, he talked a great deal about this work and the lives he touched, and he was
so appreciative to his brother, Jim, for making it possible.
For more than 35 years, Eb was also deeply involved in volunteer work (which continued up until he
was hospitalized one month ago). This work included:
• Eight years as Registration Director and member of the Board of Directors of the Greater Severna
Park Athletic Association (the GSPAA, also known as "The Green Hornets"), which provides
thousands of youth with organized athletic activity over a broad array of sports;
• Member of the Board of Directors of the Whitehurst Club Resident Association for approximately
25 years, including 20 years as its treasurer; and
• Volunteer driver and handyman for more than 15 years with Partners In Care (PIC) of Anne
Arundel County, an organization dedicated to assisting thousands of elderly and disabled persons
in remaining independent in their own homes.
At PIC, Eb has also been the Co-Coordinator (along with his best friend, John Scheleur) since 2010 of
the organization's Repairs With Care program which performs safety installations and minor
maintenance and repair of homes for elderly members.
Eb's volunteer work rewarded him in many ways, including:
• Governor of Maryland's Service Award;
• 2014 Unsung Hero Award, National Association of Fundraising Professionals, Maryland Chapter;
and
• Honoree of and Enrollment in the Maryland Senior Citizens Hall of Fame.
Over the past month, Eb's conviction for PIC was palpable to every one of the many medical
professionals at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania (HUP) who tried so hard to help him
get healthy. The conviction he relayed to each of them, when talking about PIC, made it clear this
work gave him a profound sense of purpose.
Never a man who was easily impressed, Eb was blown away by every one of the many professionals
who assisted him at HUP. After a dramatic incident when they saved his life on December 10, Eb was
thrilled by the notion that the event, masterfully led by doctors who responded immediately and
which was witnessed by a large number of student physicians, could help those young doctors to
save others in the future. Several times in his final days, Eb repeated his appreciation of the
extraordinary team in HUP's Medical Intensive Care Unit, led by Dr. Shashaty, Dr. Wani and so many
others (Jake, Kristian, Jonique, Chloe, Jackie, and many others). Eb summed up his experience near
the end by saying "it sounds crazy to say, but is almost a thrill to experience it all".
Eb was a lifelong thinker, ideological-opinion-provider, reader, puzzle-doer, and sports fan (the
Orioles, Ravens, Philadelphia A's, and Eagles, have some backfilling to do).
Relatives and friends may call at the Cavanagh Patterson Family Funeral Home on Saturday
December 27, 2025 from 10:30 AM until 11:30 AM. Followed by his Memorial Service at 11:30AM.
In lieu of any flowers, Eb's family respectfully requests that anyone interested in honoring Eb's legacy
might consider doing so by contributing to Partners In Care, Anne Arundel County
(https://partnersincare.org/locations/anne-arundel-county/), or the University of Pennsylvania
Hospital (https://www.pennmedicine.org/giving/fund-for-penn-medicine/gifts-in
memory?path=Giving&path=Fund-for-Penn-Medicine&path=Gifts-in-memory).