Dear Friends -

Some news should be delivered in a more personal way than via email, and this is one of them.  However, since there are so many people that I need to reach in a timely manner, I have chosen this method, in addition to the ongoing telephone calls that I will continue to make.

Ed passed away on Sunday, June 18, 2006. 

The details are as follows:

Ed Urbach  7/4/1919 - 6/18/2006

Donohue Cecere Funeral Homes
Address:   290 Post Ave, Westbury, NY 11590 
Phone:  516-334-2424

Wake Monday 6/19 & Tuesday 6/20 - evening, call for hours
Burial Wednesday

Our bike group had the honor and privilege to share the company of a very special person for a number of years.  The world knew him as Ed Urbach, but we knew him as Fast Eddie.  Ed rode his bike with us, sometimes locally, and sometimes in other cities on weekend trips.  We also had some fun rafting trips, and Ed got a kick out of watching the expressions on newcomers' faces when he told them the trip wasn't too rough except for the waterfall.  (There was no waterfall).  He was also known to leave a message on our answering machines identifying himself as "Crazy Old Eddie".  His humor was evident on his own answering machine, which announced that "you have reached the home of E.T.......Urbach, that is".  His humor was from a bygone era, when foul language was unnecessary, and a joke didn't have to insult another human being.  I'll always remember sitting with him on more than one occasion in a restaurant, sometimes with our fellow bikers, and listening to him advise the group "whatever you do, don't get the soup de jour, because you never know what it's going to be from one day to the next".  It was such a corny joke, as many of his were, and I'd love to hear any one of them just one more time.

Ed was the kindest and most caring person that you could imagine, and the world has lost someone who will never be replaced.  Arrangements have been made for an engraved plaque to be installed on the New York section of the East Coast Greenway Alliance Trail, which runs from Maine to Florida.  This plaque will bear Ed's name, as well as "Fast Eddie".  Ed will live forever in our hearts.  We miss you, Ed.

George ("Trail Boss"), for himself, and on behalf of Ed's "biker" friends.