J. Edward Waesche III

Noted arranger, music judge and former Society president, Ed Waesche died on May 2, 2006 of cancer at the age of 74. A "Celebration of Ed Waesche's Life" was held in the chapel of Princeton University, Waesche's alma mater. Ed's widow, Kate, has requested donations to Harmony Foundation, in lieu of flowers.

Ed had written some 600 arrangements [for the current list go to BarbershopArrangers-AB], many of them performed on the contest stage. He had a long record of leadership in his 49 years as a Barbershopper. He had served on the Society Board for 10 years and was president in 1998 and 1999.

A certified Music category judge, he was a past chair of the Society Contest & Judging Committee and the World Harmony Council. He also had served as a Harmony Foundation trustee. Ed had been a respected member of the Harmony University faculty for more than 20 years. He had sung with three top-20 quartets over a 20-year span, most recently with The New Yorkers, past Mid-Atlantic quartet champion.

Ed was a member of the Manhattan and Five Towns College chapters in New York, the Easton, Pennsylvania, Chapter, and the North Carolina Harmony Brigade.

He lived on Long Island, New York, with his wife, Kate; cats, Darla and Buckwheat; and dog, Lucky. He spent 43 years in the aerospace industry as designer, project engineer and strategic planner.