Obituary of Edward W. Sturm

April 8, 1931 – March 7, 2016 Edward W. Sturm, Jr., retired Athletic Director, Teacher, and Coach at Eden Senior High School and former summer Parks & Recreation Coordinator for the towns of North Collins and Eden passed away the morning of March 7th at Mercy Hospital in Buffalo, NY. He was 84 years old. Mr. Sturm taught Health and Phys. Ed. In the Eden Central School system for 38 years from 1956 thru 1994. During his tenure he coached Basketball for 32 seasons, Track & Field for 27 seasons, Cross-Country for 25 seasons as well as football, bowling, and baseball for short stints. He was Athletic Director for 10 years. He is a 1996 inductee to the Eden Athletic Hall of Fame, where he also served subsequently as a board member. Ed Sturm was born in Rochester, NY in 1931 to Edith Margaret and Edward W. Sturm, Sr. He was the oldest of four siblings. Knick-named “Sporty” by his family, Edward played every sport he could growing up and was a scholar athlete at Monroe High School where he graduated in 1949. He went on to Brockport State Teachers College where he played football, soccer, track, baseball, and cross-country. He also served as athletic trainer for his final three years at Brockport State. He graduated from Brockport in May 1954 and promptly joined the US Army where he served as company clerk. While serving at Fort Eustis, VA he also found time to join the company baseball team and achieved all-star status in intercompany tournament play. He married Catherine (Katy) Seekins of Frewsburg, NY, who he’d met at Brockport State, in October 1955 and together they had 11 children: four daughters and seven sons. Last fall they celebrated their 60th anniversary at an event attended by all their children, and the majority of their grandchildren. When discharged from Army active duty, Ed Sturm took master’s courses at Springfield College, Ithaca College, and Buffalo State. He leveraged his education into a 1956 teaching job at Eden Central Schools where he started as a Science teacher but within a year became teacher of Health and Physical Education. He served another 5 years as a reservist in the Army. Ed Sturm dedicated his past 60 years to the children. His Eden cross-country teams won several Division, Conference, and Sectional championships in the 70’s, 80’s and early 90’s. His ECS basketball teams amassed nearly 300 wins. His focus was constantly on the area youth and he coordinated summer recreation programs in North Collins and Eden for 25 years when the regular school season was on break. He was a teacher, coach, mentor and friend to a generation of Eden’s youth. Since his retirement in 1994, Ed Sturm channeled much of his abundant energy to volunteer work in his community. He was a very active parishioner of the Immaculate Conception Church in Eden where he was a member of the Holy Name Society, the St. Vincent DePaul Society, the Witness Choir, and a Eucharistic Minister. He was also a volunteer driver for the Town of Eden and worked regularly at the Eden-North Collins Food Pantry. Edward Sturm is survived by his sister Sheila Callahan (John), brothers Richard and Bruce (Judy) Sturm, his wife Katy, children Barbara Decsi (Tim Keough), Kevin (Patricia), Mary Wilger (Tim), Ed (Barbara), Michael (Erin), Stephen (Sherry Capetti), David, James, Joanne Meadows, Linda (Richard) Hatch, and Eric, his 25 grandchildren, 3 great grandchildren, and 1 great great grandchild. A memorial service mass will be held at 11:30AM Saturday March 12th at Immaculate Conception Church in Eden, NY. Receiving hour will be 10:15-11:15AM at the church. In lieu of flowers the family invites contributions to the Eden-North Collins Food Pantry P.O. Box 76 Eden, NY 14057