Edwin Wesely DS’45 passed away peacefully at his Manhattan home on Feb. 15. He was 85 years old. Ed served two terms on the Deep Springs board of trustees in the 1990s, and was a long-time volunteer on behalf of the college over the years. Ed was born into a European Catholic immigrant family in New York City and attended Brooklyn Tech High School before coming to Deep Springs in the summer of 1945. He subsequently graduated from Cornell University and received his law degree from Columbia Law School. He went on to a highly distinguished legal career as a federal prosecutor, and a litigation partner with Winthrop, Stimson, Putnam & Roberts (now Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw Pittman) for 37 years.
Ed was a dedicated humanitarian, serving many years as Chairman/ President of CARE, the leading international relief and development agency, and was a co-founder of CARE International in 1982. Throughout his career, he received many honors including Foreign Press Association World Humanitarian Award 1988. Ed was a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, served on numerous nonprofit boards and chaired multiple legal committees in the Federal Court system. Ed and his wife Marcy visited Deep Springs numerous times together during the past quarter century; he will be remembered by his many friends and colleagues as someone with a sharp intellect, charming wit, and enormous heart.