Edgar Henry ‘Ted’ Farrell

Edgar Henry “Ted” Farrell, 80, of Southbury, died suddenly on Tuesday, July 5, on his way to the office.

He was the beloved father of Elizabeth Lancaster Farrell, Kimberly Hopkins Farrell, and Brooke Farrell Cragan; father-in-law to Mark Cragan; and the grandfather of Wyatt, Oliver, Alexander, and Brooke Cragan.

He was predeceased in 1999 by his loving wife of 47 years, Lulu.

Mr Farrell was born in 1924 in New York City. He was the son of Lillian (Lancaster) Farrell and Edgar Henry Farrell. He grew up in New Jersey.

Since 1997 Mr Farrell had been a field representative in the sales department of The Bee Publishing Co.

During World War II, while Ted was attending Texas A&M, his education had him earmarked to be part of the allied invasion of Japan as an artillery officer. The dramatic turn of events that came about after the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki meant that Mr Farrell no longer had to plan to head overseas.

“That atomic bomb may have saved my life,” Mr Farrell told The Bee in 2002.

After the war, Ted went on to attend Stanford University and ultimately completed his studies at University of Maryland as an undergraduate. He then went on to pursue his law degree from the University of Maryland.

Ted’s career took him to every corner of the globe, starting with his first position as a young lawyer working for the US Senate. He often spoke about his work on the famous Kefauver crime committee, which investigated organized crime in interstate commerce.

“Everyone in the Mafia was scared to death of us,” Mr Farrell often said with a laugh. He had a booming laugh that will long be remembered by family, friends, and colleagues.

In 1952 Ted left the law and joined Time, Inc working for Life magazine and Time magazine as an advertising executive. He spent a lot of time with members of the magazines’ editorial and photography staff including the celebrated photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt.

In the 1970s Ted and his family moved abroad, to England, where he began working for The Winnebago Industry and General Motors selling motor homes in the Middle East. This in turn led to a position as a construction engineer for ARAMCO (Arabian American Oil Company) and ultimately to working for Osama bin Laden’s father in Saudi Arabia, building houses for the Minister of Industry.

In the 1980s, Ted continued in the construction business, spending time in Nigeria, Sri Lanka, and then Iran. He eventually made his way with his wife to Connecticut where, after a brief stint in the modular home construction field, he got back into the advertising business working house publishing and private publishing consortiums. He even started a magazine called Contractors’ Marketplace.

It was shortly after that, in 1997, that he began working for R. Scudder Smith at The Bee. Ted was on his way to work on Tuesday morning when a heart attack took his life. Retirement was not a word that Mr Farrell entertained.

Friends and family gathered for a memorial service on Thursday, July 7, at Newtown Meeting House.

Mr Farrell’s daughters have requested that contributions in their father’s name may be made to the American Heart Association, 122 East 42nd Street – 18th Floor, New York NY 10168.

The Newtown Bee        July 8, 2005