EAST LANSING, Michigan, November 10. THE Lansing State Journal posted an obituary following the passing of Michigan Swimming's Rick Edwards due to pancreatic cancer.
Richard Alan Edwards East Lansing Richard Alan Edwards, age 58, died after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his loving wife of 35 years, Jean Anne Edwards; their daughters, Kathryn Elizabeth Lea and her husband, Adam Paul Lea, of Zachary, Louisiana and Laurel Shannon Edwards and her fiance, Garrett Michael Condon, of Bossier City, Louisiana; and by his mother, Marjorie Ruth Edwards and his brother, Donald Lee Edwards, both of Sun City Center, Florida. Rick was predeceased by his father, Eugene R. Edwards. In the Lansing area, Rick will be remembered as a dedicated and challenging teacher at his alma mater, Lansing Eastern High School, as a passionate, extraordinary, and gifted swimming coach to his athletes, and as an inspirational mentor to other coaches.
In Michigan and throughout the aquatic community across the country, Rick will be remembered for the unstinting leadership and service for which he had been repeatedly honored. He was, in all ways, a great teacher and coach because he believed so intensely in the talents of the young men and women with whom he shared his own gifts. He was the consummate lifelong learner voraciously reading books of all kinds as if he could consume the knowledge of the ages through treasuring the written word. He engaged his talents as a writer as well. He wrote clearly and beautifully, writing everything from newsletters for his team to poetry for those he especially cared about. Rick emphasized excellence in all he did and to all he influenced.
He leaves a legacy of lives made so much better by his effort that the effect of him being "who and what he is in the world every day" exceeds our ability to fully understand. Rick's loss is shared by a large family of friends. A memorial service will be held to honor his life and sustain his memory at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Lansing at 11:00 a.m. on Friday, November 14, 2008. In lieu of flowers, the family would like to call attention to the Rick Edwards Scholarship Fund, recently named by its sponsoring organization, the Michigan Interscholastic Swimming Coaches Association, MISCA, in his honor. Checks should be made out to MISCA. Please reference the Rick Edwards Scholarship Fund on the check and mail it to Scott Hedges, P.O. Box 801, Bloomfield Hills, MI 48303. The family is being served by the Gorsline Runciman Funeral Homes, East Lansing Chapel.