Edmund Paul Dalzell, 81, of Everglades City FL passed away peacefully on March 10, 2025 at Physicians Regional Hospital in Naples FL. He graduated from Essex Catholic High School and attended Seton Hall University in South Orange NJ while spending time in the Merchant Marine on and off to pay for another semester. It was there that Ed first met and dated Elaine and wooed her with poetry. While he was at sea, a fellow student proposed to her, and she accepted, and they eventually moved to Florida. Ed had three and a half years of sea time in the Merchant Marine, circled the globe and navigated the Suez Canal and the Panama Canal. He proudly served as an able seaman. He did not want to work in a hot and noisy engine room like his father did for thirty years. Instead, he went to work as a Personnel Officer in the Welfare Department in Essex County NJ, from which he retired in 2002.

One day while in Newark Airport, Elaine looked through the Essex County telephone book (remember those?) and saw that Ed still lived in Orange and took note of his phone number. At age 50, she had the temerity to call him and ask for his birthdate. When she asked him if he knew who was calling him, he replied “I don’t know what your name is now, but you used to be Elaine Hoffmann.” Ed wrote poetry all his life, and in 1981 he won the Fellowship Award in Poetry from the NJ Arts Council. So naturally Ed once again wooed Elaine with poetry, and they married in 1999. They enjoyed travelling to Boston, Chicago, and Washington DC and civil war battlefields from Antietam to Gettysburg, as well as several trips to Montana where Ed had hoped to retire. In Everglades City, Ed continued his life-long passion for feeding those less fortunate than himself and joined the Everglades Lions Club. He also continued to write poetry. His other interests were history, especially of the Civil War and WWII, and the Tampa Bay Rays. He looked forward to spring training and baseball season.

Ed was preceded in death by his parents Alan Cameron Dalzell and Adeline Dalzell, nee Sosnoski. He is survived by his wife of 26 years, Elaine Middelstaedt of Everglades City FL, and by his brother William Alan Dalzell, Sr. (Cathy) of Belleville NJ, his nephew William Alan Dalzell, Jr. (Carrie Muller), and his nieces Jamie Dalzell and Jennifer Dalzell Sobrera (Jimmy) and his special friend and companion of nearly nine years, Christopher Herlovich. Ed’s funeral service will be held on March 31 at 10:30 am at Holy Family Catholic Church.