Wellfleet, MA – With deep sadness, the family of Edward J. Golden Jr. share the news of his death. Ed passed away peacefully on the 19th of October 2026 at the age of 92 in Orleans, Massachusetts at The Terraces Nursing Home. He is predeceased by his beloved wife, Eileen Golden, who passed away in June of this year. Ed’s children, Tim and Kate, were by his side during his last weeks and days, soaking up Ed’s final ruminations on life, the theatre and memories of their life together. Ed often said that while he reveled in his long career in the theatre, his greatest devotion was to Eileen, Kate and Tim, which they felt keenly.
Born in 1934, in Dorchester, Massachusetts, Ed was the first of five children born to Marie and Edward Golden Senior, who were dedicated teachers of French, Latin and English. Ed grew up surrounded by their wit and love of learning, as were his siblings Jane, Bill, Alicia and Mark as they arrived and filled the family home in the Jamaica Plain neighborhood of Boston with love and gentle chaos.
Ed was drawn to the theatre from a young age and had won a national contest for writing a radio adaptation of Great Expectations while still a young teen. At the age of 17, he won the national gameshow Strike It Rich, and, naturally, used his winnings to support a play he was directing.
Ed graduated from Harvard College in 1955. He went on to earn a master’s degree in fine arts from Boston University and soon after joined the Army (after an initial period in the Navy) to complete his two years of military service. Ed was named Soldier of the Month during basic training and went on to work in counterintelligence training at Fort Holabird in Baltimore, Maryland. Based on his training in theater, he worked with other actors to train undercover agents on how to reenact in certain situations.
Once discharged, Ed stayed in Baltimore, where building on his work with the Young Men’s and Young Women’s Hebrew Association, he founded Center Stage, which became a vibrant regional theatre under his leadership as Artistic Director. He eventually moved on to become Artistic Director of Theater Hopkins at Johns Hopkins University, where he continued to invigorate the theater community of Baltimore with many bold and original productions.
Baltimore is also where Ed met Eileen – when she walked on stage to audition for a play he was directing – The Killer. Eileen had moved from her native London to work as a physical therapist at Johns Hopkins Hospital. The two fell quite quickly for each other, and although Ed had famously said, ‘I’m not the marrying kind,’ Eileen had clearly given him reason to reconsider this position. They were married in 1969 in Cambridge, Massachusetts and moved back to Baltimore for a few more years.
Ed often explained his journey from acting to directing to academia by quoting the playwright Robert Anderson: “You can make a killing in the theatre, but not a living.” However, as Ed started down the academic road by pursuing a PhD in Theatre at Tufts University, it was more than a pragmatic step towards starting a family with Eileen – Ed had a natural talent and instinct for teaching.
Ed got his first job as a professor at the State University of New York at Albany in 1973 and, as legend has it, was feverishly editing footnotes for the final print of his PhD thesis, when Eileen gave birth to Kate at the nearby hospital. Tim was born three years later and each was adored upon arrival.. In 1978, Ed took his next teaching position at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, and the family settled in nearby Sunderland, Massachusetts, where they lived for more than three decades.
Ed was a loving father to Kate and Tim, forever a teacher, instilling impeccable grammar, the value of self-discipline and inspiring a delight in all things silly. He was an unparalleled listener, imparting thoughtful advice to help his children navigate the awkward strains of adolescence and how to balance a love of career and family. Ed adored opera, was a brilliant up-cycler of antiques and a fantastic cook. Leisurely chats with Dad over a bowl of bean soup and crusty bread in the family kitchen or one of his favorite haunts in Amherst or Northampton, MA have, no doubt, restored the souls of many, including his children.
One of Ed’s greatest joys and achievements was directing UMASS students in a production of The Playboy of the Western World by John Millington Synge, which was the national winner of the 1991 American College Theater Festival and performed at The Kennedy Center in the spring of that year.
In their final chapter, Ed and Eileen retired to Wellfleet, Cape Cod in 2014, where they built a new circle of close friends, including Maura, Paul, Lisa, John and Kelly and fellow parishioners at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church. Following some health issues, Ed and Eileen moved into The Terraces nursing home in Orleans in early 2025, where they grew to deeply appreciate the wonderful staff who took excellent care of them.
Ed is survived by his daughter, Kate , and her husband, Peter Fitzmaurice, living in Belfast, Northern Ireland; his son Tim and his wife Carine Golden living in Toronto, Canada and grandchildren Declan and Isaac Fitzmaurice and Stella and Sam Golden, all of whom miss Ed and Eileen terribly.
May he rest in peace.
The Funeral Mass will be held on Saturday, December 19th at 11:00 am at Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Wellfleet, MA. In lieu of flowers, consider donating to the Lily House www.thelilyhouse.org.
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