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Edward F. Brown

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Edward F. Brown, born February 18, 1920, died of COVID-19 Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2020.

He was the beloved husband to Mary Ann; father to Susan of Monongahela, Barbara of St. Paul, Minn., and Matthew (Holly) of W. Barnstable, Mass. Also survived by three grandchildren, Matthew Edward, Lexie Marie and Isabel Grace.

A long-time resident of Peters Township, Edward (known to his siblings as “Bud”) was born in Donora. His father, William, immigrated from England; his mother, Dana, was from Croatia. He was one of eight children, and the only one to attend college, despite spending his youth skipping out of school and being escorted back home by the local police.

He showed a talent for music and played the violin on a local radio show. He studied music at Duquesne University, but interrupted his education to enlist in the Army Air Force for World War II. He was fortunate to serve stateside for four years, repairing plane engines. When the war ended he studied engineering at Washington and Jefferson College and later received his B.S. and M.S. in Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh.

His brother, Tom, who was married to Mary Ann’s cousin, Jean, introduced the couple, and they married in 1951. They moved nearly every year through the 1950s- to Niagara Falls, N.Y.; Parma, Ohio; Sylacauga, Ala. – and eventually bought their first home in Monroeville in 1958. They moved to Dayton, Ohio, in 1965, then returned to Pittsburgh for good in 1971.

Ed worked for various engineering firms in downtown Pittsburgh over the years, taking either the South Hills trolley or bus to work each day, then walking up the hills to home.

Over the years he pursued multiple hobbies. He built a classical guitar from scratch – it took him over a year – then taught himself to play. He took up sculpting, stained glass, memoir writing, poetry, painting, vegetable gardening, writing letters to the editor, and online stock trading. He and Mary Ann stayed in shape by walking the Peters Township trail every day for several years. He had the logic of an engineer and the soul of an artist.

Ed was smart, sentimental, affectionate, perceptive, stubborn, silly and curious. We will miss him tremendously.

A Celebration of Life will be held when we can safely gather again.

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