Edwin Ed Henry Copenhaver III

Ask any Capitol Hill resident, “Who is Mr. Ed? “The helpful, unassuming man at Frager's Hardware, most would reply. Ed Copenhaver died early on the morning of June 27th after a long fight with cancer. He was 73 years of age.

Ed had been a co-owner of Frager’s Hardware for 37 years retiring in 2012. “A lot of really good folks have worked with me over all of these years,” said Ed at the time of his retirement.”

Even if you are one of the few who is not familiar with the name Ed Copenhaver, if you have shopped in the hardware store in the past four decades, you would immediately recognize his face. Ed was often the first person to greet customers as they stepped into the store.

The original Frager’s at 1115 Pennsylvania Ave. SE was one of those places where you push open the door and instantly know you have stepped into a time machine and been transported back. In this case, it would be the 1920’s when Fritz Frager first opened the store. By the time Ed and his co-owner and long-time friend, John Weintraub, bought the store in 1975, it had become somewhat a household name in the Capitol Hill neighborhood, so the name stuck.

In fact, Ed said, George Frager, one of Mr. Frager sons, stayed on at the store to help teach him and John the ropes of managing a retail hardware business. Ed’s eyes twinkled when he recalled that George’s motivation for mentoring the new owners served a dual purpose. “George needed an excuse to get to the Hill to keep a long-standing relationship going with his lady. But, for me, it was really instrumental to have George around,” said Ed. “I remember one of the first things George did was teach us how to count out the money from the registers at the end of the day. Of course, today everything is computerized making the business much different.”

For many years, Ed worked a two week shift where he would take three-days off at the end of each shift. In the 37 years, he never recalled feeling stressed out, or not wanting to come into the store.

The soft southern drawl of Ed Copenhaver came from being raised in Charlottesville and going to high school in Richmond. Attending University of Virginia, he met his business partner, John. “He was the kind of person who makes you feel he has all the time in the world to listen to your story and then head you in the right direction,” said John. Ed said that learning the art of listening is probably the one thing that has made his business career such a success.

“It took me a little while to realize that whether it is a customer or an employee, the best thing I can do is really listen to what they want, and then see how I can help them with the situation.”

Ed also enjoyed the mentoring role of hiring young Hill kids for their first after-school job. He said that there were three reasons he believed that these teenagers have made such excellent employees. “The young folks are quick learners; are energetic; and pay attention to what you are telling them.”

Frager’s has kept up with the times, despite it often being described as an old fashioned hardware store. It added the garden center to the vacant lot next door when the gardening craze hit. “We went from not doing that end of the business very well, to making it a very good service and business for the community.”

On June 5, 2013, the original Frager's was destroyed by a four-alarm fire. Although retired, Ed helped John get the business back up and running.

Outside Frager's, Ed worked hard to improve the Capitol Hill community. He helped found the HillEast Orange Hat patrols with longtime friend and Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Will Hill. He served on the Metropolitan Police Deparment's Citizen Advisory Council and was an active member of the Beat 31. He was one of the activists that fought the Boys Town development on Potomac Avenue, now the site of the Harris Teeter. He was also a major supporter of the Capitol Hill Community Foundation.

“Ed was one of the nicest people I have ever met in my life. He had a genuine interest in anyone that he encountered,” said Advisory Neighborhood Commissioner Kirsten Oldenburg.

For all of us that have benefited from the wisdom of the civil engineer turned hardware store owner and community activist, we will miss seeing Ed in his blue Frager’s apron greeting us at door.

Reprinted with permission from The Hill Rag

A Celebration of Ed Copenhaver's Life will be held on July 9, 2016 from 4:30 to 6:30pm at the Congressional Cemetery Chapel.

Donations may be made in Ed's memory to the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, 6 Herndon Ave., Annapolis, MD 21403 (https://www.cbf.org/make-a-donation)

Gumdrop Clinical Trials The Genito-Urinary Multi-Disciplinary DC Regional Oncology Project (http://www.gumdroptrials.org) or the Congressional Cemetery, 1801 E St. SE, Washington, DC 20003 (http://www.congressionalcemetery.org/about-us.asp). Specify that your donation is to be used for planting and support of hybrid chesnut trees.