Winchester, MA
May 5, 2015
Edward Joseph Mitchell of Winchester, May 5, 2015, age 83. Born in Fall River, son of the late William Edward Mitchell and Ann Cecelia (Grace) Mitchell, Ed graduated from Prevost High School and attended St. Marys Seminary in Baltimore, MD; earned a masters degree in theology at Gregorian University in Rome, Italy; and was ordained a Roman Catholic Priest in 1956. Ed served at parishes in Fall River, Taunton, and Raynham, and returned to Rome to earn a doctorate in Canon Law from Lateran University. In 1970, he transitioned to a career in nonprofit organizations, serving as executive director for the National Kidney Foundation, the American Heart Association, the American Lung Association, and UNICEF.
Ed married Pamela Ritz in 1971 and felt blessed to raise two daughters. He was a 21-year esophageal cancer survivor, and eternally grateful to his surgeon, Dr. John Wain, for the blessing of extra years to see his youngest daughter grow up and also to know his three grandchildren. Ed fully embraced each day of his life, and enjoyed writing, photography and web design. In death, Ed follows his parents; his brothers, William Mitchell, Jr. and Peter Mitchell; and his treasured sister Dorothy (Mitchell) Crosman. Loving and generous father of Jennifer McQueen and husband Jim of Mt. Pleasant, SC and Katherine Mitchell and husband Chris of Worcester; former husband of Pamela (Ritz) Mitchell of Lincoln; brother of Mary (Mitchell) Hodkinson of Fall River; grandfather of Lynx Mitchell, Jamie McQueen, and John McQueen; uncle of John Eastman, David Eastman, Ann Marie Blackwell, Kathy Goode, Caroline Walters, Edward Hodkinson, Peter Hodkinson, William Hodkinson, and Ann Hodkinson; and brother-in-law of Dorland Crosman.