Eduardo Santiago Reyes

Eduardo “Eddie” Reyes of Los Angeles, CA punched his final boarding pass on August 29, 2025, returning to God from his birthplace of Pasig City, Philippines. Born December 3, 1956, the fourth of nine children to Isidro and Lucia Reyes.

As was commonplace, the baby boomer era was defined by a time of relative plenty in the Philippines. The populace had the predilection of birthing large families. Owing to Isidro being a traveling sales agent and his wife Lucia as a home-marker, often, various children of the family were parsed out to any number of relatives to be in part raised by them. Eddie was one of the children that experienced being “raised by the village.”

The 1970’s were a particularly odd time for the world. It was marked as a time of unrest, innovation, and cultural shifts. Eddie lived through an era, where pop culture and capitalism were starting to burst at the seams. Bright eyed Eddie with hands and feet dirty from a hot day of hauling scrap metal, fixed up pretty nicely; tight fitting shiny dress shirt with the first few buttons unbuttoned, bell bottom pants that were skin tight and gradually flared downward so wide it could double as a parachute, massive platform shoes to kill roaches, and even bigger hair with enough hair product to grease a wok. Bee Gees blaring, fingers pointing; Eddie danced like nobody was watching, and if they were, he would hip bump them.

Circa 1980, The Martial Law era brought upon a time of uncertainty. The Reyes family had to take a chance to plant roots in the US. They resolved to pick one of the unwed sons. The choice became between him and his younger brother Raul. Raul was having cold feet and Eddie, a hardy and resourceful man, eventually took a chance across the pond to San Francisco to look for his fortune. In this big, strange, new place; his American dream had not been without its struggles. Many times, he longed to go home. Giving up crossed his mind. He eventually succeeded in bringing over a significant number of relatives to the states. He wed in 1982 and in 1984 he fathered Gerard, Geraldine 1987, Genalyn 1989, and folded Trudy into the clan that same year. He worked ground crew maintenance in Ontario airport, later the family moved to Los Angeles.

In 2006 Eddie met Norma, his final and favorite dance partner. They married and built a simple life together filled with laughter, jokes, and road trips. The blended family grew further with five stepchildren, later welcoming a bushel of grandchildren including Mika, Nathan, and Ethan.

Their baby pup is Choy, they later also adopted cats, with the cats in turn adopting other cats.

Eddie was an avid patron of horse races, a junkie for coffee and cigarettes. He was an orb of sunshine to everyone he met. From his US family, his thousands of customers from working over 20 years at LAX, his Casino cartel travel group, the apartment complex tenants, his relatives in the Philippines, the random people he befriends in the most random places. He did it all with a disarming smile and genuine love for everyone.

No buildings are named after him; no monuments erected in his honor, but he has had the chance to spread his brand of kindness that will live with us for the rest of our lives. Look for him in the evening sunset or with the earliest spring flowers, or amongst the butterflies. We know he’ll be there in one form or another, because everywhere we are, there he’ll be.