Evesham loses longtime resident and proponent of youth athletics Edward Midura
“Heaven recruited an incredible soccer evangelist, a wonderful father and husband, and a community cheerleader.”
Those were the words posted on the Marlton Soccer program’s website by commissioner and Evesham Township Councilman Ken D’Andrea regarding the passing of former commissioner Edward. J. Midura.
Midura passed away peacefully at his home on Feb. 12 at age 56 after battling cancer — melanoma that had metastasized as a brain tumor.
At the Feb. 17 meeting of the Evesham Township Council, both D’Andrea and Mayor Randy Brown used their time for comments to publicly offer their condolences to Midura’s family, as well praise the impact their friend had on the community.
D’Andrea called Midura one of the “good guys” and spoke of how he first brought him into the Marlton Soccer program more than 10 years ago and how the program Midura loved is now one of the largest soccer programs in the state with more than 2,500 kids.
“We’ve done a lot of good stuff over the years, but it was based on an individual that brought me into the program and his name was Ed Midura,” D’Andrea said. “Ed was a longtime resident. He was one of the predecessors of mine in terms of running the soccer program. It was all about the kids. It was all about the community.”
Brown went as far as to call Midura one the main drivers to Brown first running for office in 2007 because of the difficulty Midura had as he pushed for the township to build more athletic fields for kids.
“So many young men and women have come out of that program and become great young men and women because of people like Ed who never feared what the public thought about him,” Brown said. “He never feared what the public said about him.
He always did what he thought was the right thing for the town and for the kids.”
Brown also noted how Midura’s love of Evesham’s youth extended beyond athletics, recalling how when he ran and won office, Midura invited Brown’s then 2-year-old daughter to an annual Easter egg hunt at Midura’s house.
“You couldn’t go until Ed said ‘on your mark, get set, go,’ and you just saw the joy in the hour, his hour that he got to have an Easter egg hunt for the kids and how important the kids were,” Brown said.
Midura was husband to Linda H. Midura and father of Jennifer M. Holak (Michael) and Sara C. Midura. He was the son of the late Helena and Stefan Midura, and brother of John Midura (Christine), Mary Socha (Stanley), Christine Kos (Joseph), Halina Sulewski (Leonard) and the late Stanley Midura.
Midura was born in in Poland and raised in Holyoke, Mass. He worked in the elevator industry for 34 years, creating his own consulting firm in 2005.
A viewing is scheduled for Friday, Feb. 20, at the Bradley Funeral Home and on Saturday, Feb. 21, at Church of the Holy Eucharist in Tabernacle.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in Midura’s name to either the Church of the Holy Eucharist, 520 Medford Lakes Road, Tabernacle, NJ 08088; Answers for Austism-Edward Midura Memorial, 6525 E. 82nd St., Suite 210-L, Indianapolis, IN 46250; or Franciscan Volunteer Ministry, PO Box 29276, Philadelphia, PA 19125.
