Edward John Fernbach

Ed Fernbach passed away in the early morning hours of June 27, 2024 after a courageous 2.5 year battle with an aggressive rare Stage 4 cancer. He was 75 years old. Ed was born in San Francisco California and was the oldest of four boys. He grew up in San Bruno and then Walnut Creek California. Ed went to Ygnacio Valley High School and graduated in 1967. He was in the band and played trumpet as well as other instruments. He was also the valedictorian. Ed attended University of California Davis where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in Chemical Engineering and went on to complete a Masters Degree in Environmental Toxicology and Engineering graduating in 1974.

In his early years, Ed and his family spent a lot of time in the outdoors exploring the Sierra mountains and other parts of northern California fishing, hiking, swimming, and camping. Ed was also very athletic and loved running, cycling, skiing, swimming, hiking, and windsurfing. In his later years he continued biking and swimming and even more recently biking while going through his cancer treatments much to the amazement of his doctors. Ed was a water guy. He loved being in it. He believed that all kids should have the opportunity to learn how to swim and was dedicated to helping his community in North Portland find ways to have access to pools that are so limited here in this part of the city.

Ed worked as a Wastewater Engineer for 50 years. He worked primarily for Black and Veatch and CDM Smith during his career. He truly enjoyed his work and loved problem solving and coming up with creative solutions. He really cared about and respected the people he worked with. He was known as extremely practical and had developed trust relationships with wastewater plant managers, county and municipal government officials and many others in the discipline of wastewater treatment. He particularly enjoyed helping young engineers as they were beginning their careers.

Ed was a very calm, quiet, humble yet confident person. He was always supportive, kind and caring to people and had this sweet and funny sense of humor. He was such a joy to be around.

Ed was the most amazing father to his two children and he was best friends with them both. They adored him. He adored his granddaughter beyond measure.

Ed had a deep love for music and shared his favorite music, and knowledge of musicians he liked with all who knew him. He loved going to see live music in particular and was passionate about helping to support his favorites musicians. He often bought more tickets to performances than we could use and invited others to join us while thoughtfully giving away some tickets to others many times.

Ed loved daffodils and planted them everywhere and he also loved putting up lights for various holidays often with detailed displays. His kids have many stories of some of his most creative light displays while they were growing up. He was such a kid at heart. Ed had a connection with Hummingbirds and was the feeder guy for these lovely creatures. Sometimes they would follow him partway into the house when he was changing their feeder. After meeting his wife Paula he began to love watching birds.

Throughout his illness his wife Paula was by his side. She and Ed always felt they were true soulmates in this life and felt so fortunate to have found one another. Ed was hopeful, brave, pushed through his discomfort, and yes was scared, yet he approached many challenges with a bit of a sense of humor. Paula’s sisters called him “Hercules” because of his bravery and how he handled this incredibly difficult disease. Often before doctor appointments Ed would graph and chart various test results and symptoms which his doctors found amazing.

His family sends love and deep thanks to the incredible team of doctors at Providence Franz Cancer Center including his wonderful Oncologist Dr. Brosnan, and his incredible surgeon at Oregon Clinic, Dr. Babicky. We are thankful to each and every nurse who took care of him during the 2.5 years of his illness, the amazing caregivers from Select Home Care, and the deeply kind and professional staff at Hospice Providence.

He leaves behind his wife Paula Golightly, son Edward Z. Fernbach, daughter Kaitlin Trout, granddaughter Emmalynn Trout, brothers Bob Fernbach and wife Annette, John Fernbach and several nieces and nephews and their families.

His mother and father, Edward Frank Fernbach and Jane Hamilton Hess, preceded him in death along with his brother Richard Fernbach.

A small celebration of life will be held likely sometime in the spring of 2025. A date, time, and location are yet to be determined.

Donations to the following non-profit organizations in Ed’s memory would be greatly appreciated.

Friends of Columbia Pool (advocacy for pool access in North Portland):

https://www.focp.org/

Ethos Music Center (Access to music education for all young people)

https://www.ethos.org/

Colorectal Cancer Alliance (The leading organization focused on ending these types of cancers)

https://colorectalcancer.org/