EDWARD HEFFERNAN

1933 - 2019

HEFFERNAN EDWARD DAVID HEFFERNAN Beloved husband, father, grandfather, brother, and friend passed away Friday, May 10, 2019, at Casey House Hospice, Derwood, Maryland, surrounded by his loved ones. Family will receive friends at PUMPHREY'S BETHESDA-CHEVY CHASE FUNERAL HOME, 7557 Wisconsin Ave., Bethesda, MD 20814 on Sunday, May 26, 2019 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. Mass of Christian Burial will be held at Chapel of Our Lady of Lourdes, Georgetown Preparatory School, 10900 Rockville Pike, N. Bethesda, MD 20852 on Monday, May 27, 2019 at 1 p.m. A reception celebrating Ed's life will immediately follow the mass in Georgetown Prep's Haas Building. Interment at Gate of Heaven Cemetery will be private. Born October 27, 1933, in the Beverly neighborhood of Chicago to Ruth M. (née Tobin) and David J. Heffernan, Ed was the third of six children: older sisters, Joan and Carol, younger brothers, David, Donald, and the late Steven. He attended Saint Ignatius College Prep and graduated from Morgan Park High School in 1951. He went on to attend Wilbur Wright Junior College, but was soon drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War. He specialized in radio operations and became a parachutist with the 82nd Airborne Division. He credited his experience in the Army as a period of great maturation that would have a deep impact on the rest of his life. After being honorably discharged from the Army, he enrolled at the University of Illinois on the GI Bill where he was a member of the Sigma Alpha Epsilon fraternity and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1957. After graduation, he moved back to Chicago and was hired by the Illinois Bell Telephone Company. In 1957, he met his dear wife, Therese O'Connor, who was working as a telephone operator at the company. They were married on July 26, 1958, and enjoyed raising their children and working together for the next 60 years. While at Illinois Bell, Ed received his law degree in 1961 from DePaul University School of Law and subsequently joined the company's lobbying team. He was responsible for representing Illinois Bell in front of the Chicago City Council, the Cook County Boardof Commissioners, and the Illinois Legislature. Beginning in 1966 and for the next 45 years, Ed served on the Board of Directors of the Federal Defender Program in Chicago, which represents impoverished criminal defendants in the federal courts. In 1967, Governor Kerner of Illinois asked Ed to run the State of Illinois Office in Washington, DC, where he served under three Governors: Kerner, Shapiro, and Ogilvie. In 1969, Ed left the State of Illinois Office to commence the practice of law in the private sector, which continued until his retirement in 2011, at the age of 78. Over the years, Ed represented a wide variety of clients, from ductile iron pipe manufacturers in Alabama, to DePaul University in Illinois, to native corporations in Alaska. He also served many years as General Counsel to the Renewable Fuels Association. Ed is well-remembered as a former President, Treasurer, and a long-time board member of the 116 Club on Capitol Hill. His lobbying practice expanded rapidly through the 1980's and 1990's, representing clients on a range of interests before Congress and numerous administrative agencies. His political activities included work as an advance man for Vice President Hubert Humphrey's Presidential campaigns in 1968 and 1972, Deputy Campaign Manager for Senator Henry M. "Scoop" Jackson's Presidential campaign in 1976, as well as his role in planning the Presidential Inaugural Parade for President Jimmy Carter in 1977. Ed's sage advice and counsel extended to countless members of Congress over several decades. The Outer Banks of North Carolina was a favorite destination for Ed and his family, where he enjoyed feasting on crabs, reading on the beach, and long evenings under the stars opining on the great mysteries of life with friends and family. During his children's youth, he coached boys' and girls' CYO basketball. He loved the arts, and in 1990, he performed in Sunday in the Park with George alongside his wife Therese at Georgetown Prep. In 1994, he took great joy in playing a hardened gangster in Orphans, a play directed by his son, Terence. Ed was extremely proud of his Irish heritage and Catholic faith. He will be remembered for his remarkably generous heart, his unconditional love, and his joyous spirit. Ed was one of those rare true gentlemen that his generation produced, and he will be missed by many. Ed is survived by his wife, Therese; his four siblings, Joan Tracey (the late Joseph), Carol Ryan, David (Jean), Donald (Barbara), and sister-in-law, Jane Nolan (of the late Steven); his seven children, Sean (Nancy), Shela Coleman (Tim), Timothy (Kimberly), Edward, Eileen Lubore (Scott), Terence (Dr. Sheila Samaddar), and Brian; his 13 grandchildren, Mary, Edward, Matthew, and Caroline Heffernan; Quinn and Shane Carnahan; Anne, John, and David Heffernan; Lucan and Fionnuala Lubore; Madeline and Heideian Heffernan; and many nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Ed's memory to the American Foundation of the Blind at www.afb.org Please view and sign the family guest book at: www.PumphreyFuneralHome.com www.PumphreyFuneralHome.com