Edwin Reese Sharpe Jr.

Edwin (Ed) Sharpe was born in Longview, Texas in 1945. Growing up in Mason, he had an extraordinary childhood—full of work, fun, friendship, and accomplishment. He was valedictorian of his high school class, editor of the yearbook, and a captain of the football team, earning All-District honors in his junior year. As a senior, his performance in “The Boor” secured a spot for him on the University Interscholastic League’s All-Star Cast.

While his parents Ed Sharpe, Sr. and Marie Hill Sharpe, both educators, worked on their master’s degrees in Austin over several summers, young Ed and his sister Maribelle explored the University of Texas campus. Years later, in an interview with the Alumni magazine Alcalde, Ed said, “I always knew this is where I wanted to be.”

A Phi Beta Kappa graduate, Ed earned a B.A. with Honors in Economics, a Master of Business Administration, and a Ph.D. in Higher Education Administration from the University of Texas at Austin. He was a member of Delta Tau Delta fraternity and formed life-long friendships; these friendships continue to sustain his family during this time of loss. From 1971 to 1973 he served as an officer in the United States Army. During his tour of duty in Vietnam, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service.

His UT and UT system career spanned 47 years. He served in four UT presidents’ and two interim presidents’ offices as vice president for administration. The UT Austin’s Ex-Students Association presented him with its Top Hand Award in 1996, and he was selected Educator of the Year by Inroads-Central Texas in 1997. At UT System in 1992, while continuing to serve as a UT vice president, he was appointed interim president of UT Permian Basin; in 1998 he joined Chancellor William Cunningham’s administrative team, serving as vice chancellor and as executive vice chancellor for academic affairs.

Following his time at UT System, Ed began a new chapter at UT Austin. In 2003 he became a Professor of Practice in the Department of Educational Leadership and Policy. Ed was a founder of the UT Elementary School which opened that year, as well. For 17 years, Ed was the school’s Chairman of the Management Board. He felt privileged to witness the elementary school students’ accomplishments, just as he felt privileged to teach accomplished graduate students preparing for careers in education leadership. His valued colleagues at UT were sources of great pleasure and meaning in his life.

Ed paired goal setting abilities with a tenacious spirit to deliver problem-solving skills to the many organizations he served. At St. David’s Episcopal Church, where he had ties going back to childhood, he, along with Molly, assumed active roles. Christmas Eve 1964, Ed wrote his grandmother: “I feel that once a person has been active in the Episcopal service, he never feels he is participating fully in the service unless he has an active part.” Their sons were baptized, confirmed, and acolytes there. Ed was senior warden in 2013 and 2014.

He assumed responsibilities as chairman or president of the following: United Way/Capital Area, the Greater Austin Quality Council, the Austin Public Education Foundation (supporting the Austin Independent School District), Child and Family Service, Inc. (now Lifeworks), and the Austin High School Football Boosters Club. He served on boards of the Greater Austin Chamber of Commerce, the Austin Area Research Organization (AARO), E3 Alliance (Education Equals Economics), the Brackenridge Hospital Foundation, Leadership Austin, Quality Texas Foundation, Inroads Central Texas, University of Texas Ex-Students Association, Neighborhood Longhorns Program, St. Andrew’s Episcopal School, the Episcopal Theological Seminary of the Southwest (now the Seminary of the Southwest), and Westminster. Ed valued his participation in the HEB—Excellence Awards; for 14 years he was part of the school district judging team, traveling the state for site visits at nominated districts.

Molly Hawkins Sharpe and Ed celebrated fifty years of marriage in October 2025. Their sons William (Will) and Stuart share Ed’s loving, kind, generous, and witty nature. During the last years of Ed’s life, as he managed living with dementia, an after-effect of a traumatic brain injury suffered in 2015, Will and Stuart were mainstays in Ed’s and Molly’s lives, bringing significant support and pleasure to their parents.

Ed is survived by his wife Molly, sons Will and Stuart, sister Maribelle Sharpe Hoerster, sister-in-law Barbara Hawkins, brother-in-law Charles Hawkins (Julia), nieces Sherryl Bibb (Justin), Natalie Hudson (Treg), Elizabeth Cano (Denis), and nephew Samuel Hoerster (Jessica), eighteen great nieces and nephews, and many loved cousins.

A Celebration of Life Service will be held Saturday, August 22 at 2 PM at St. David’s Episcopal Church (301 E. 8th Street) in downtown Austin. Following a parish hall receiving time, there will be a reception at UT Elementary School (2200 E. 6th Street), beginning at 4PM.