Edward Wayne Zahnow, 87, of Wilmington, DE died peacefully at home on Thursday August 11, 2022 after a short illness.
He was born in St. Louis in 1935 to parents Wayne and Ruth, and was a huge St. Louis Browns baseball fan. The family, which now also included his younger brother Eugene, moved to the San Francisco Bay area where he completed junior and senior high school, and then obtained his undergraduate degree from San Francisco State University. He was a member of the Air Force ROTC and one of his few regrets in life was not being able to enter pilot training. Instead, Ed moved to Seattle to attend the University of Washington and obtained his PhD in Chemistry in June 1961. He found time to meet the love of his life Judy and they married in October 1960. After graduation they relocated to California as he started his professional career with Shell Oil in Redondo Beach, and then moved across the country to Delaware a couple of years later when he accepted a job as a research chemist with DuPont, primarily focused on agricultural products.
Ed and Judy were members at St. Mark’s and Concordia Lutheran churches in the decades that followed, and he was a volunteer coach for the girls’ church league basketball team. He also enjoyed coaching youth baseball while his son was playing, and watching his grandchildren in various sports and other activities. The family fondly remembers several meticulously planned cross-country trips to visit various national parks and West Coast family, as well as shorter more local vacations to the beach or state parks. In later years, the couple explored the world with trips to Europe and Australia as well. He enjoyed playing bridge with a long-time group of church friends and with neighbors, fishing with his kids and grandkids, playing chess, taking long walks, and reading everything he could find at the library about the Civil War and World War II.
He is survived by his beloved wife Judy of 61 years. He also leaves behind daughter Karen Hall and husband Larry; daughter Anne Belski, husband Tim, their daughter Kristina and husband Bradley and the first great-grandson Teddy, and their son Eric and girlfriend Paige; son Curt, wife Karen, and their children Elaine and Kyle, and Ed’s brother Eugene of California, his wife (also a Judy), and their daughters Kathleen and Christine and their families.
Services will be private per his wishes. Ed and Judy have always supported charities close to their hearts, so if anyone is inclined to consider a remembrance please do so with your charity of choice. The family would especially like to acknowledge and thank the staffs of Rockland Place, Bayada Hospice, Nurturing Angels and Wilmington Hospital for their care and support during this time.
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