Edward Eustace Dunleavy

Edward Eustace Dunleavy was born to Helen and Daniel Dunleavy on February 26, 1944, in Passic, New Jersey. From a young age, Ed was fascinated with race cars and in his youth was the entire pit crew for his best friend John as they traveled to racecourses around New Jersey. His love of auto racing continued throughout his life with Formula 1 topping the charts. Ed was a huge baseball fan as well, never missing a Mets game if he could help it.
Ed earned Bachelor’s and Master’s Degrees from Rutgers University. He enlisted in the U.S. Army in 1966, was commissioned as a Lieutenant after officer candidate school. He was an Infantry Platoon Leader and Company Executive Officer. He was awarded a Bronze Star for Valor with Oak Leaf Cluster. Ed served in Vietnam until 1969.
Ed followed his military service with a 30-year career on Wall Street, becoming Vice President and Senior Equity Analyst at Merrill Lynch. Then at Solomon Brothers he become Director of European Equity Research in London. He later moved to Chicago and then back to New York to work for Gruntal & Co. where he was the Director of the Equity Division and where met his wife, Carol (Russo), who was then Deputy Director of Compliance. That company closed after 9/11 and Ed and Carol decided leave Manhattan and to move to the country, purchasing 20 acres of farmland in Shepherdstown West Virginia and they built a home there.
After a long and successful Wall Street career, Ed become a gentleman farmer, spending hours every day on his John Deere tractor and planting over 300 trees on the property.
Ed had a great love of art, fine wines and books and had a large collection of each.
Ed was an avid reader of history, among many other topics, and was a Civil War buff. A turn of events led Ed into a 13-year battle to preserve a nearby Civil War Battlefield. He was President and founding member of the Shepherdstown Battlefield Preservation Association Inc. (SBPA). SBPA is an organization dedicated to preserving three hundred acres of the site of the Battle of Shepherdstown as a Civil War national park. Ed enlisted the support of historians, educators, county, state and federal officials, and Civil War preservation groups in this effort.
The entire battlefield has recently been preserved and further development of the site has ended. By educating the public about this previously ignored Civil War battle, Ed was instrumental in saving an important part of the area’s history. He also sat on the board of Historic Shep-herdstown Commission and was a member of the Shepherdstown Museum Committee and the Harpers Ferry Civil War Roundtable. Ed was presented the Chairman’s Award for Excellence in Historic Preservation by the Civil War Trust.
While all this was going on in West Virginia, Ed’s beloved adult children, Catherine Ann (Sauner), Timothy Edward Dunleavy and Mary Elizabeth (Germaine) began having children of their own. To be closer to their growing family, Ed and Carol purchased a home in Ocean Grove, NJ. What began as a beach house eventually became their full-time residence.
Ed’s grandchildren, Scott Michael Germaine, Samantha Marie Sauner and Grace Ann Dunleavy were truly his pride and joy. Ed tried his best to attend all their sporting events. He was so happy being near them and he just adored them.
Tragically, Ed’s life was cut short by a rare Leukemia (CMML) which was caused by exposure to Agent Orange during his service in Vietnam, a huge loss to his family and friends.
Preceded in death by his brothers Royce and Daniel. Ed leaves behind his 3 children 3 grandchildren, his brother Patrick Dunleavy of New Bern, NC and his beloved and adoring wife of 23 years, Carol Eileen Dunleavy.
A visitation will be held on Thursday October 3 from 4:00 -7:00 PM at the Ocean Grove Memorial Home 118 Main Avenue, Ocean Grove.
In lieu of flowers, contributions to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, http://www.stjude.org/ would be appreciated.