A Lifetime a Legacy

Frank Edwardi
’The Kind of Guy Sea Isle City Was Built Upon’

This is how anyone would want to be remembered.

Frank Edwardi’s legacy as a kind, nurturing human being, beloved by the Sea Isle City community, is a rich one.

The impact of his life first is a visual one. It can be measured by the overwhelming presence of several hundred mourners at his funeral July 9.

It also appears on an individual basis. People remember things he did for them. They recall the protective sense of an older brother, friend or uncle.

Edwardi influenced the community in several ways. One was via the family Sunoco station on 49th Street, where people expected to see him. Another was as head of the city’s volunteer fire department he had joined in 1969 and led from 2011-19. He always showed up when there was trouble.

One of Edwardi’s marathon service efforts will always be appreciated by prominent real estate practitioner John McCann. He thinks of Edwardi whenever looking at his building at 4111 Landis Ave., for a simple reason: It’s still there.

“The Sea Isle City Fire Department saved our building,” McCann says. “There was a fire right next door to us in 2005, and that building burned to the ground. The fire department came here. They had to squirt down our office, and they did a great job saving our building. We could have burned to the ground also.

“Frank and his people were out here a good 12 hours, saving our building and others. I have always been grateful to him for that. Frank was a silent leader. You may not have heard about him all the time, but he was always there.”

McCann extends the reference to Edwardi’s presence at the family gas station. It wasn’t simply the type of service Edwardi provided, but the manner in which he carried it out, McCann recalls.

Frank Edwardi (left) and fellow firefighter Frank Jr.

The Edwardi family: (top, from left) Frank Sr., Jackie (Anthony’s wife), Kathy, Anthony, Patti (Frank Jr.’s wife), Frank Jr.; (bottom) grandsons Nicholas, Anthony, Dante, Frankie.

“Any time you had a problem, you pulled in there and Frank and his brother Anthony would give you great care,” McCann says. “He was a great, kind man. That would always come through in anything he did for people. Whatever anybody in the city needed, Frank would help them.

“Frank was the kind of guy Sea Isle City was built upon.”

Edwardi represented the sense of community in Sea Isle City. Neighbors helping neighbors. Collections being taken up for people who have suffered a property loss. It’s a city in which the term “next door” often means one’s other family.

Edwardi embraced those roles with a smile, fitting in with the Sea Isle City fabric.

“The local people here are wonderful,” says Kathy Edwardi, who was married to Frank for nearly 55 years. “They take care of one another; they watch out for each other. I remember a time years ago when your friends would pop over for a quick cup of coffee, see how you were doing, stay and chat with you for a while. I like that about Sea Isle City. It’s hard to find that anymore.”

But she found it for a long time with Frank.

“I was smiling recently when I saw a couple that looked like they had been together a long time, holding hands,” she says. “The husband was on the outside and his wife was to his right. Frank was always on the outside, with me on the inside, always protecting.

“He was so kind,” Kathy adds. “Frank would do anything for anybody. You talk to anybody and they would call him St. Francis. He was a kind, considerate, even-tempered man.”

There was one role Frank chose to skip. If it’s hard to picture him as a disciplinarian, there’s a good reason why.

“I was that person, not Frank,” Kathy Edwardi says with a laugh. “Frank was a pushover, especially for the grandchildren [they have five]. He had this routine with them where he would ask them: ‘You are the best. The best of what?’ And the answer was “the best,” The full statement was, “You are the best of the best.”

With Frank at his birthday party (from left): Grandsons Anthony, Nicholas, Frankie, Dante, and sons Frank and Anthony.

Kathy and Frank at Anthony’s wedding.

Edwardi not only said those words, he lived them. He will be remembered by them.

Frank Edwardi Jr., now a councilman in Sea Isle City, remembers his father’s best-of-the-best dedication.

“It inspired me to get involved in the fire department,” he says. “He was always proud of the fire department and the people who served with him. He lived it and he breathed it.”

Officials in the community recognized the elder Edwardi with a ceremony in June. A string of bright red Sea Isle City fire trucks arrived at his home in a stirring tribute.

Family members, friends and city officials honored him during a ceremony recalling his career as fire chief and as Sea Isle’s harbormaster.

As the excitement swirled around him, Edwardi absorbed it with a characteristic grin. He spoke with warmth and kindness.

Just like in the rest of his life.

After Edwardi passed away July 6 at the age of 77, Sea Isle City mayor Leonard Desiderio ordered flags flown at half-staff at city buildings. The fire station next to City Hall has been draped in black bunting.

That’s how it is regarding pillars of a community. The Sea Isle City family will miss St. Francis, yet appreciate being enriched by him.

Frank Edwardi with his sons Frank and Anthony.

At grandson Frankie’s high school graduation: Frank, Dante, Kathy and Frank Jr.