Edgar A. Jimenez

Our beloved Edgar Jimenez passed away from cancer on February 6, 2020, at the age of just 52 years young. He is survived by his mother Juana Taveras, his aunts Zunilda & Maribel; 4 siblings, Miriam, Dareyda, Ramon and Jackie; 2 Nieces Dareily & Soreily; and 2 Nephews, Jean-Carlos and Dariel. Edgar will be forever remembered by his extended family and dear friends.

Edgar was a truly wonderful, loving, compassionate, and beautiful human being, with an uncanny wit, great intellect and a charisma to make you smile anytime you saw or spoke to him. He had a rare ability to make you want to be a better person every day he was a part of your life. To know Ed, was to love him.

He was born on April 25, 1967 in the Dominican Republic. As an infant, his mother brought him to live the New York City area near Riverside Park where he started his strong academic journey; starting with “Prep for Prep," a leadership development and gifted education program. Edgar’s acute intelligence and inquisitive mind allowed him to excel in school early on while at Horace Mann School in the Bronx. He then went on to earn a merit scholarship to attend the prestigious preparatory institution The Peddie School in New Jersey, where he graduated in 1986 with Honors. Edgar was on the wrestling team and started rowing there as well. Upon graduation, he received a scholarship and chose to attend the small, very elite liberal arts school Amherst College in Massachusetts, where he studied Political Science. He was on the crew team as well here, which is where he developed his trademark shoulders, overall physical strength and endurance.

Upon moving back to NYC in the early 1990's, his education helped him quickly land an elite job at the 5-Star Carlisle Hotel in Manhattan. This was followed by his first bartending gig at Champs Sports Bar, where he met and started dating his longtime partner Chuck Levitan in 1995. They were recruited together to work at the premiere gay bar in the world, Splash Bar, shortly thereafter. Chuck and Ed became well-known NYC icons and welcoming fixtures to the gay community throughout the late 90s, as they worked happy hours side-by-side for nearly 8 years. By 1997, they were already studying web design and development and started their own boutique web and graphic design business with Chuck's sister, Andrea Levitan. Following the traumatizing events of 9/11, they relocated their small business and themselves to a beautiful quiet home overlooking serene Lake Travis in Austin, Texas in 2004.

Edgar had become a gifted coder with a high aptitude for studying, learning and applying cutting edge development languages to web projects. This eventually led him down a career path back to his beloved NYC in the Spring of 2012. Edgar worked as a Senior Front-End Developer for many prestigious companies, such as Tommy Hilfiger, Weight Watchers, IBM, AT&T, Barclays PLC. Etc.

In April of 2014, Edgar relocated to St. Petersburg, Florida, to be closer to his sister Jackie, and her loving fiancé, David Johnson. While living in Florida, Edgar worked for Continuing Education Inc., a company that is committed to developing and presenting (on cruise ships) high quality live lecture accredited continuing education programs for professionals. This is where he lived out the remainder of his life.

Edgar’s hobbies included being a devoted fan of DC Comics, reading, studying, weightlifting, and a huge lifelong fan of soccer. Although he was no longer partnered with Chuck, Edgar was and always will be dearly loved, and considered a part of the Levitan extended family after the 25 year bond he forged with them. He remained extremely close with Andrea Levitan until his untimely death on February 6, 2020.

A celebration of Edgar’s life will be held at Serenity Funeral Home in Largo, FL on Sunday February 23, starting at 11am ET. Memorial donations in memory of Edgar can be made to the Cancer Research Institute. [www.cancerresearch.org]