Edward Freedman
WEST PALM BEACH, FL- Edward (Ned) Freedman, 87, loving husband, father, grandfather, and brother, died due to natural causes on Friday, April 24.
Born May 15, 1932, in Springfield, MA, to Rose and Hyman Freedman, he attended MIT and graduated from Dartmouth College in 1954. His contributions to his school were many, including building a six-foot-tall crest for his fraternity, Gamma Delta Chi, which still hangs today.
After college, Mr. Freedman joined the family business, Keystone Plumbing Supply, working alongside his father Hy and brother Herb. On December 21, 1957 he married the love of his life, Debra Koff. Together they raised two daughters, Tabi and Marissa, and a son, Eric, in Longmeadow, MA.
A veteran of the Air Force, he was honorably discharged as a captain in 1966. He devoted time to the community both as a member of the Melha Shrine of Springfield and the Rotary Club. He also created sets for the JCC of Springfield’s theatrical productions.
Mr. Freedman was an artist, a builder, a creator, and businessman. His sculptures were exhibited in the Springfield Museum of Arts. The homes he and his wife Debra designed and built in Longmeadow, Clinton, CT, and West Dover, VT, were the foundation for wonderful family time. Summers were spent at the beach, sailing, waterskiing, fishing, and playing tennis, while winters were for skiing in Vermont. He enjoyed spending time in his workshop building furniture for the people he loved. He shared his passion for the outdoors and his skills as a craftsman with his children and grandchildren, as well as nieces and nephews. He built an amazing treehouse and bobsled run in the backyard that his children and the neighborhood children enjoyed for years.
A lifelong love of skiing brought Mr. Freedman to the Deerfield Valley, in Vermont, to ski. He skied at Hogback and came over to ski at Mount Snow from its first days in 1954. He supplied some of the materials used in its development. He taught his wife Debra to ski and they were pictured on a Mount Snow promotional postcard, riding the Canyon chair, in the early 1960s. Every winter weekend was spent skiing, and as the children grew he passed on the love of skiing to them. Two of the three Freedman children became ski instructors, working both for Mount Snow, Haystack, and eventually the Hermitage Club, continuing the family presence on the mountains.
In the early 1970s Ned and Debra designed and built one of the more unusual contemporary houses in the valley, which remains in the family. A continued connection with the valley was made when he and his partners developed Timber Creek. Ned Freedman continued skiing into his 80s. A part of him will always be in the valley, in the mountains he loved.
Mr. Freedman is survived by his wife Debra; three children, Tabi, Eric, and Marissa; daughter-in-law Lori Freedman; son-in-law Jeffrey Queen; as well as four grandsons, Jason, Max, Harris, and Jared; his sister Phyllis Cohen; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Donations can be made to the Springfield JCC, 1160 Dickinson Street, Springfield, MA 01108, or at springfieldjcc.org.
