Obituary of Edward T Saad

Edward Theodore Saad passed peacefully on Monday, November 19, 2018 at his home in Cheshire, Connecticut, with his wife of 64 years, Alice, by his side. He was 95. Ed was preceded in death by his brothers William, George and Nabil, and his sister Helen. Born in 1923 in Jerusalem, Palestine, he was the eldest son of Theodore and Kafa (Ghandour) Saad. He grew up in a Christian Orthodox family during the post WWI British Mandate period. He attended St. George’s School and was active in the Jerusalem YMCA where he studied accounting and was a champion squash player. Compelled from an early age to design buildings in his homeland, Ed came to the United States in 1947 to study architecture and structural engineering at the University of Nebraska. Shorty after his arrival in the U.S., the United Nations partitioned Palestine, leading to the establishment of the state of Israel. In 1948 violence and unrest erupted and his family was forced from their home in Jerusalem, fleeing to Aleppo, Syria. Ed was given refugee status in the U.S., and after college became a naturalized citizen -- a role he thereafter fulfilled with seriousness and great pride. Ed earned his way through college working summers in Detroit on the automobile assembly line, and as a guard in the Nebraska State Men’s Reformatory. He began to date his future wife, Alice Harms, a music education major, and the two were married in Lincoln, Nebraska after graduation. After working for a structural engineering firm, Ed was hired by Eero Saarinen & Associates in 1955, in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan. He quickly established himself as a world-class draftsmen and project manager, and in 1959 was sent to London to serve as project manager for construction of the American Embassy in Grosvenor Square. In 1961 he returned to the U.S., and became project manager for the construction of the CBS Headquarters in New York City.

In 1965, following the death of Saarinen four years earlier, Ed established a joint-firm with fellow Saarinen-alum and later independently. Some of Ed’s significant architectural work includes Ridge Hill School in Hamden (Roth-Saad), the Gerhard and Mary Mack House in Cheshire (Architectural Digest “house of the year”/Roth-Saad), the Cheshire Public Library, Church Street School (Hamden), Schulz Electric factory and headquarters (New Haven), and the ACES Educational Center for the Arts (New Haven). He was especially proud of his school projects for disabled students (including ACES Village School-North Haven), where his carefully conceived architectural solutions could transform children’s lives.

Ed was an active Rotarian for decades, serving as president of the Rotary Club of Hamden from 1972-73. As a beneficiary of American hospitality, he was an enthusiastic supporter of the Rotary Youth Exchange program, with Ed and Alice hosting many year-long and summer exchange students over the years in their home, and sending their own children abroad in the program.

Ed and Alice traveled extensively throughout their marriage with their children, on their own, and with friends, almost always visiting important architectural destinations. Their last major trip together was to Vietnam and Cambodia in 2014, where they celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary on a river-boat cruise. Ed and Alice were patrons of New Haven and Hartford theater for decades and enjoyed discovering fine restaurants at home and abroad. They nurtured close relationships with many treasured friends, including a tightly knit group of families that had formed a bond at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in the 1960s.

In addition to his beloved wife Alice, Ed leaves four children, Roxana Saad and her wife Robin, of Framingham, Mass., Theodore and his wife Linda of Wilmington, Del., Lydia Scott and her husband Tom of Milford, Conn., Mark and his wife Nyree, of San Diego; twelve grandchildren (Ryan, Amanda, Laura, Bethany, Alexandra, Edward, Thomas, Tayja, Ramsey, Geoffrey, Tatum, and Vivian), numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and extended family, all of whom he loved dearly. On Nov. 23, his family gathered at St. Peter’s Church in Cheshire for a private memorial. A funeral service and celebration of life will be held at a later date. In lieu of flowers, contributions in Ed’s memory may be made to St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 59 Main St., Cheshire, CT 06410, United Palestinian Appeal (www.upaconnect.org), or Playgrounds for Palestine (www.playgroundsforpalestine.org). The Alderson-Ford Funeral Home of Cheshire is assisting with arrangements.