Edward Knauer

Edward Knauer was born on April 21, 1934, in East New York, Brooklyn, the second son of Yetta and Ben. A bright, brash, and handsome young man, Eddie excelled at sports and especially loved playing ball in the streets of Brooklyn. He married Arleen Stromberg when they were 18, and the young couple had their first child, a daughter, Debra, two years later. Caron followed a year later, and then Tammy four years later, Benée five years after Tammy, and two years later, the couple’s first and only son Ben was born. Arleen's younger sister, Phyllis, moved in with the family when she was 11. The growing family moved from Brooklyn to Far Rockaway near the ocean to Merrick, Long Island, and then to Howard Beach.

Ed had many mouths to feed, and he developed a strong work ethic. He became a travelling salesman in the textile business, and when an opportunity in Dallas, Texas, came up, he and Arleen took their two young daughters to live there. When they moved back two years later, Ed got a sales job at Evan Picone and then at Jack Winter, and that led to sales manager and then vice president of sales positions at Bobby Brooks, a trendy junior company. He was a self-made man and a creative marketing professional; he’d often write ideas on a yellow pad while sitting on the couch after dinner, coming up with new ways of selling his product. And he was a dynamic, charming schmoozer. When he was offered an opportunity to apply his expertise in sales to the computer software business, he did, and his upward spiral was meteoric. He was made vice president, and then partner, and then he started his own company, Knauer Consulting.

Ed worked hard and played hard. He found the time to be an affectionate, loving, caring, fun, encouraging, nurturing, devoted, and generous father. He was the proud patriarch of 5 children, 14 grandchildren, and 3 great grandchildren. He suffered a nearly fatal heart attack one night more than 30 years ago, and he made it through a very difficult night thanks to the doctors at Beth Israel. After a couple of surgeries, he received a heart transplant 19 years ago, when he was 66 years old. He bravely fought the Lewy Body Disease he was diagnosed with 3 years ago.

Ed loved life so very much, and his exuberance and sense of humor and adventure rocked. He had a passion for travel, fine dining, wine, women, song, books, movies, opera, classical music, theater, Italy, and Italian. He even caught the acting bug when he was in his 70s and appeared in several local NYC productions. Marlon Brando had nothing on him. He lived and breathed politics and American history—MSNBC was his bible and mantra in the last years of his life.

Ed personified upbeat. He loved hearing about what was going on in his loved ones' lives. He was devastated two years ago when his older brother Fred passed away as he so looked forward to their nearly daily conversations and to hear what Fred was up to. He always enjoyed talking to his younger sister and brother, Judy and Joel. When his granddaughter Ariel asked him what he was most proud of, Ed said his family. He was so proud of his children and their partners, whom he loved and appreciated: Howard, Jeff, Silvio, and Merrit. He was such a devoted grandfather. He was the greatest and most loyal fan of his grandchildren, cheering them on, telling them they could achieve anything they dreamed of and set their minds to, and never missing their events. Lonn, Ariel & Lou, Sophia & Doug, Peter, Laura, Meredith & Tosh, Tina, Jesse, Elizabeth, Renny, Natali, Adriana & Dani, Jake, Andrew, Liam, Liev, Madison, Parker, Alyssa, Zuri, and Jordan were the lights of his life. Ed Knauer was deeply loved by his family and fiercely loved them back. A dynamic and loving man, he will be very much missed by all who loved and cherished him.