Eduardo Zorrilla

Eduardo Pablo Zorrilla (aka Chi Chi, Viejis, El Zorro, Dad, My Dad, Tio Eduardo, Papa, Papa Z, and Papa Koot), born on the 30th of June 1939, in Surgidero de Batabano, Cuba, passed away peacefully at home at age 86 on the 29th of August 2025, surrounded by his family and caretakers, ending a valiant seven-year battle against two cancers. Fighting to the very end, he finally allowed his body to rest when his family serenaded him with Guantanamera, a favorite song honoring his beloved Cuba.

Highly ambitious and intelligent, Eduardo was always busy doing or learning something. As a youth in Cuba in his hometown fishing village, he worked at his father's hardware store. For leisure time, he was actively involved in creating a beach and beach club in his town of Surgidero. For high school, he graduated as Valedictorian from Ruston Academy in La Habana. His plan was then to attend the University of La Habana, but the Communist government closed the university, and he chose to continue his education in the United States. Eduardo was given a full scholarship to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, New York, where he was President of the Latin American fraternity, Phi Iota Alpha, and graduated cum laude with a B.S. in Civil Engineering in 1961. This was remarkable given that he left Cuba, alone, with only $5 in his pocket, as his parents were not able to join him until years later.

Upon graduation in 1961 through 1964, he was employed as a Research Engineer with Johns Manville. He traveled often to Europe to share his expertise with manufacturers in Ireland, Belgium, Spain, and Italy. From 1964-65 he worked as a Design Engineer with American Bridge where he contributed to the design of suspension bridges including the Verrazzano-Narrows in New York and the Angostura Bridge, spanning the Orinoco River in Venezuela. He concurrently completed a Master’s Degree in Civil Engineering, summa cum laude, from Newark College of Engineering in 1966. From 1966-1981, he was employed by Foster Wheeler Corporation in the petrochemical industry in Livingston, NJ, St. Louis, MO, and then finally, Houston, TX. At the young age of 37 years, he was named Director of Engineering in Houston, overseeing 500 engineers. He developed patented inventions for use in refineries and was called as an expert to investigate fires and explosions at petrochemical plants.

In 1981, at age 42, he founded his own companies, Zydex Engineering and Zydex, Inc. Within his engineering company, he served as a consultant to major oil companies and their refineries, including Shell Oil and American Petrofina. Within Zydex, Inc, he created PDS- Plant Design System- in a joint venture with Intergraph Corporation. This system was a breakthrough in computer-aided design in engineering. He developed the specifications for PDS and then traveled all over Europe to promote it.

As passionate as he was with his professional life, he was with his family life as well. He was happiest when he was surrounded by his loved ones, singing or dancing with them. He loved Cuban music, of course, but had a special love for opera, especially singing the songs Granada and O Sole Mio. Eduardo didn’t care much for material goods because he had learned, when he had had to leave Cuba at age 18, that material goods could be taken away, but familial love and education could not. He enjoyed hiking, racquetball, handball, swimming, painting, climbing on his roof, and renovating his new house.

Eduardo’s success... from starting with $5 in his pocket to establishing an internationally used Plant Design System... can only be achieved by great intelligence, extreme hard work, perseverance, thinking outside the box, intensity, perfectionism, high standards, a fair degree of stubbornness... and the support of his fierce, devoted, and loving wife Gisela who stayed by his side for 62 years.

Preceding him in death were his father, Basilio Zorrilla; mother, Mercedes Alvarez Zorrilla; and brother, Fermin Zorrilla.

He is survived by his loving family - wife Gisela, sons Alex and Eric (Jennifer Zorrilla), daughter Karen (Frank Perez, Frank Alexander, and Fernando), and granddaughters Carolina “Cuquis” (Kevin), Natalia, Bianca, and Isabel.

The family is extremely grateful to Chayo and Yolanda, his loving caretakers who were so valuable and indispensable during his battle with cancer.

Friends are cordially invited to a visitation with the family from four o'clock in the afternoon until eight o'clock in the evening on Friday, the 5th of September, in the library and grand foyer of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

A funeral service is to be conducted at half past ten o'clock in the morning on Saturday, the 6th of September, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston.

Interment will follow via an escorted cortège at Memorial Oaks Cemetery in Houston.

Flowers in honor of Eduardo are encouraged (all colors apart from yellow) or memorial contributions in his memory may be directed to Mesothelioma Applied Research Foundation by visiting www.curemeso.org or the link below under “Donations”.

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