Eddie died in August, 1991. I was fortunate enough to see him at my 20th high school reunion for Bishop Reilly HS in 1990, just prior to his death. I was also fortunate enough for him to have met my then-fiance and now wife who greatly enjoyed, as we all did, his company for the brief time that she got to know him.
In his memory, my daughter, who was born shortly after he died, bears part of his name in her middle name. I still miss him but I know wherever he is probably making some fool feel very embarrassed about his behavior.
I was friends with Eddie through high school, though I lost touch with him shortly after that. A mutual friend of ours from high school who now lives in San Francisco, Dan Healy, recently contacted me. Dan remained very close with Eddie throughout the years and he gave me the following details about Eddie's life.
Eddie's parents, Sal and Mina, and their three other kids moved to the Miami area during our senior year of high school without Eddie, who remained in Queens, staying with relatives in order to finish up at Bishop Reilly. After graduation he moved to Miami to be with his family and he attended college in the Miami area. He met a guy either in college or just after graduating and they became partners, their relationship lasting many years. Eddie's parents, especially his mom, were always very cool and Eddie and his partner actually lived together openly as lovers in his parents home for several years. (Remember, this is the 1970s and early 80s!) During that time Eddie set up and successfully operated his own landscape business for several years. According to Dan Healy Eddie's work was extraordinary, and looked like the work you see in Architectural Digest magazine. The landscaping around his mom's house was apparently very beautiful, with bamboo gardens, an orchid house and lot of other special touches.
Eddie and his partner broke up after roughly ten years and Eddie subsequently met another guy with whom he established his second long term relationship. They lived together in Coral Gables (not in his parents house) and during this time Eddie also gave up his landscaping business and found a more conventional job doing municipal planning either for the city or the county.
As Donald mentions, Eddie died in August, 1991 of AIDS. Dan is not sure when exactly Ed was diagnosed, but a diagnosis pre-1991 was a veritable death sentence due to the absence of the various meds now used to manage the disease. Dan recollects that at the Bishop Reilly 20th anniversary high school reunion in 1990 Eddie seemed healthy and in no way compromised by his illness. He does recall, however, that a few years earlier (late 1980s) Eddie developed an eye infection which in a matter of 2 or 3 days became extremely serious resulting in his eye being surgically removed. As Dan and I were talking about this we realized that this kind of eye infection (an avian-sourced virus) was not uncommon among folks whose immune systems were compromised back then. With the exception of this incident, Ed's health apparently remained pretty intact until the end, so there was not a long drawn out struggle. He died peacefully at home with his mother and his boyfriend taking care of him. Dan recalls that Ed had been hanging on under the watchful care of his boyfriend and mother. One day, however, they both left the room at the same time, and when they returned he had gone.
Eddie was survived by his father, his mother an older bother and sister and a younger brother. Ed's mother passed last September ('08). His father, older brother and sister still live in South Florida and his younger brother lives in Northern California.
Donald Perretti
Eddie died in August, 1991. I was fortunate enough to see him at my 20th high school reunion for Bishop Reilly HS in 1990, just prior to his death. I was also fortunate enough for him to have met my then-fiance and now wife who greatly enjoyed, as we all did, his company for the brief time that she got to know him.In his memory, my daughter, who was born shortly after he died, bears part of his name in her middle name. I still miss him but I know wherever he is probably making some fool feel very embarrassed about his behavior.
Nikos Valance
I was friends with Eddie through high school, though I lost touch with him shortly after that. A mutual friend of ours from high school who now lives in San Francisco, Dan Healy, recently contacted me. Dan remained very close with Eddie throughout the years and he gave me the following details about Eddie's life.Eddie's parents, Sal and Mina, and their three other kids moved to the Miami area during our senior year of high school without Eddie, who remained in Queens, staying with relatives in order to finish up at Bishop Reilly. After graduation he moved to Miami to be with his family and he attended college in the Miami area. He met a guy either in college or just after graduating and they became partners, their relationship lasting many years. Eddie's parents, especially his mom, were always very cool and Eddie and his partner actually lived together openly as lovers in his parents home for several years. (Remember, this is the 1970s and early 80s!) During that time Eddie set up and successfully operated his own landscape business for several years. According to Dan Healy Eddie's work was extraordinary, and looked like the work you see in Architectural Digest magazine. The landscaping around his mom's house was apparently very beautiful, with bamboo gardens, an orchid house and lot of other special touches.
Eddie and his partner broke up after roughly ten years and Eddie subsequently met another guy with whom he established his second long term relationship. They lived together in Coral Gables (not in his parents house) and during this time Eddie also gave up his landscaping business and found a more conventional job doing municipal planning either for the city or the county.
As Donald mentions, Eddie died in August, 1991 of AIDS. Dan is not sure when exactly Ed was diagnosed, but a diagnosis pre-1991 was a veritable death sentence due to the absence of the various meds now used to manage the disease. Dan recollects that at the Bishop Reilly 20th anniversary high school reunion in 1990 Eddie seemed healthy and in no way compromised by his illness. He does recall, however, that a few years earlier (late 1980s) Eddie developed an eye infection which in a matter of 2 or 3 days became extremely serious resulting in his eye being surgically removed. As Dan and I were talking about this we realized that this kind of eye infection (an avian-sourced virus) was not uncommon among folks whose immune systems were compromised back then. With the exception of this incident, Ed's health apparently remained pretty intact until the end, so there was not a long drawn out struggle. He died peacefully at home with his mother and his boyfriend taking care of him. Dan recalls that Ed had been hanging on under the watchful care of his boyfriend and mother. One day, however, they both left the room at the same time, and when they returned he had gone.
Eddie was survived by his father, his mother an older bother and sister and a younger brother. Ed's mother passed last September ('08). His father, older brother and sister still live in South Florida and his younger brother lives in Northern California.
Jack Regan
Thanks for the update on the Class of '66 Poet Laureate. I remember his brother Robert, but not the other sibs. Eddie was a piece of work.