Eduardo Marquez

Edwardo Marquez
November 16, 1957 – November 25, 2020

Ed Marquez has said “Bye, I Love you boy”, one final time on November 25, 2020. Having lived a joyful and adventurous life for 63 years. My Dad is a wonderful man, the most fantastic father, a truly great friend, the really cool uncle, the most amazing grandfather, an extra reliable brother, a caring son, an awesome father-in-law, and a real Chicago guy!

Ed was born Edwardo Marquez to Jose and Jovita Marquez on November 16, 1957, in the most amazing city of Chicago IL. He was born seventh in the order of sons and daughters. His brothers (my Tios), Louie, Rudy, David, Ricky, Will, and Johnny. And his sisters (my Tias), Connie, Mary, and Anna. Ed grew up on the northside, near Ashland and Grand Ave’s, on the famed Hubbard St. The Marquez family grew up to represent what Chicago was, is, and always will be: tough, blue-collar, hardworking, supportive, real, and no-nonsense. Ed adored his nieces and nephews – David, Orlando, Alonzo, Ray, Sabrina, Erica, Joey, Elizabeth, Dominique, Erin, Chris, Adan, Vicky, Nick, Patti, Silvia, Robin, Melissa, and Amy. Ed loved his family.

Ed enjoyed attending estate sales. Ed made the art of the sale into the creative process of getting his price. Finding his treasures in a mixture of random stuff, was an experience he cherished. Ed was in his element when doing and creating his inventions, or the way he would say it “inbenchins”. Ed Marquez knew what it meant to be from Chicago. He was completely Chicago, you can say he was “of” Chicago, like the roots of a tree.

Ed Loved his Bears, Cubs, and Blackhawks. Wait…come to think of it, the Marquez brothers might have been the first Mexicans in Chicago to play ice hockey. Then they grew into playing football, softball, and fastpitch (the Chicago term for baseball when no one wants to play catcher). Every Sunday in the fall, Ed and his brothers would meet at their parents' house. They would do a home-made prayer, lead by their father Jose. Then they would join their buddies to play tackle football, and as they got older this became 2-hand tag football. They called it The MFL - Marquez Football League.

Ed was a standout little league and developmental league basketball coach. He also coached football and baseball. But Ed’s brilliance was in coaching basketball, his knowledge of the game came naturally to him. Although Ed was a great coach and did wonderful things, he didn’t care much for the basketball greatness of Michael Jordan. I often wondered, how can my dad be so good at coaching but not like MJ, mind-blowing. Ed coached for a long time, mostly at Welles Park on Chicago’s northside. Ed won many games and won many championships, but his best accomplishment was shaping young players into quality human beings.

Ed went from coaching to refereeing (officiating games). He refed baseball, basketball, and football. Ed absolutely loved to ref games. There is a famous story where Ed was an umpire for a FroSoph (high school freshmen and sophomore level) game at a local park where there is no home run fence.
In this case, umpires will line the foul territory with cones at the end of the baselines going into the outfield. The story is that a batter hit a ball so far and high, it looked like it disappeared, that’s how well this ball was struck. The ball was hit above the 2nd baseman position, but kept climbing and traveled past the cones in flight. This ball was easily hit over 350 feet. For perspective, this ball would have gone out of Wrigley Field. The ball then landed about 50 feet in foul ground, but Ed called it “Fair ball”, which became a Homerun as the batter circled the bases to score. The defensive coach stormed out of the dugout and said “blue, are you blind? That ball is foul!”. Ed responded, “Coach, that isn't the ball, that is a piece of the moon that the ball knocked off”.

Ed worked at O’Hare airport for the city of Chicago, only fitting for a Chicago guy. He worked at the department of Laborers Aviation. There he was a Foreman and was ALWAYS on the clock. Ed was well respected and often joked with his buddies and co-workers. Ed was commonly mistaken for having three names. On the walkie talkie, Edwardo would sound like “ED Wado”. There were many times that his colleagues did not know “Marquez” was referring to Ed. This went on for almost 20 years. This often made me laugh when I had to pick up something at his office and co-workers would be stunned that Ed’s last name is Marquez.

Ed has two glorious grand-children, Dajalis and Nya Ortiz. Dajalis is a brilliant young athlete (gymnastics), naturally intelligent, and very creative. Nya is also a young star. With a personality out of this world, and a sense of humor ahead of her time. She starred in the great “Eddie Gaga and Boochy show”. Where Ed had to reign her in most of the time, as she was easily distracted. Ed loves his young girls and is watching them become beautiful young ladies from above.

Ed Marquez helped raise two young people, well not so young anymore, his children. Erick Marquez (me) and the little princess Janis Marquez. My dad made life so easy for us. My sister and I are seven years apart (hmmm, seventh in the order of siblings and seven years difference in his children, Theme? Maybe). He knew what we needed and got us what we wanted, even though there was a major difference in our surroundings and upbringing. He would make us laugh all the time. He gave us nicknames (my sister is going to be mad at me for this), Janis was named “mamach” and I was “papacito”. Both sides of our family would use these names for decades when referring to us. There was one thing that got my Dad very upset, and that was when we got speeding and parking tickets on his cars. OH BOY! Ed was a father that put his children first. He was a great father, and we are so very proud to be his kids! Ed Marquez has set the bar of graciousness, humanity, compassion, fatherliness, and love very high. A man that will be remembered and loved forever!

We love you, Ed. We love you, Dad!

In lieu of flowers, the family kindly requests that you make a donation to a charity of your choice in his name “Edwardo Marquez from Chicago, IL”.
In my dad’s honor, the Ed Marquez Fund (a non-profit organization for youth education through sports) was created. Contributions can be made to @edmarquezfund ( marqsnet2020@gmail.com ) using Paypal.com.