Obituary of Edward Hatch Valance, Jr.

March 29, 1930 – September 6, 2016 Edward was born on March 29, 1930 near Buffalo, NY. He was the eldest son of Edward H. Valance, Sr, who was a US Navy veteran of World War I and a chemist and an executive of Spencer Kellogg, Buffalo, NY (later bought by Textron, Inc), and Marguerite Jeanne Mockler of Oak Park, Ill. Edward attended Canisius High School, a Jesuit private school in Buffalo, NY, where he was a straight A student and graduated as the valedictorian of his class in 1947.   He was also captain of his debate team, an eagle scout and an avid chess player.  Growing up, he also enjoyed reading mystery novels and spending his summers at his parents’ cottage in Canada, swimming and exploring the great outdoors. Edward attended Spring Hill College in Mobile, Al, and obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry around 1952. Then he studied Theology at Saint Andrews-on-the-Hudson in upstate New York, but cut short his studies to move to the metropolitan Chicago area to help his mother and brother. Ed obtained a Master’s degree in Chemistry from Loyola University there, where he met his first wife, Maureen McCarron. His Master’s thesis at Loyola involved determining the amino acid sequence of proteins experimentally.   Maureen was studying at an all girls College, Mundeline, that is now merged with Loyola.  They met on the L train and quickly fell in love, and were married within six months. With his first wife Maureen, Edward had six beautiful daughters who were all named alphabetically -- Aimee, Bonnie, Cathie, Dorothy, Eileen & Felicia.  Edward was a dedicated family man and took his children to weekly Catholic mass.  He also enjoyed taking his daughters on outings to the movies, the beach, swimming, amusement parks and skating.  There were also frequent trips to Baskin Robbins ice cream parlor too!  Education was also important to Edward and he often read to his children and helped them study for school. Edward also worked at Universal Oil Products Co in the Chicago area.  Seeing the promise of a career in Patent Law, he attended Law School at De Paul University in Chicago.  He obtained a position at Geigy Chemical Corp. and eventually moved to the New York City area, where he obtained his J.D. degree at the New York University. As he was completing his law degree, he got an offer to work at Mobil Oil headquarters in New York City in their Patent Department and later rose to become a vice-president of Mobil Oil, specializing in international trademark and patent law. He became a prominent New York Patent Attorney and served as treasurer of the NY Patent Law society. Edward resided with his family in Scarsdale, NY and then later when Mobil Oil moved its corporate headquarters to the Washington area, he moved to Fairfax, VA, in 1980, where he lived for some years and continued working at Mobil Oil.  While at Mobil Oil, he met his second wife Karina Bankins whom he was married to for 20 years until her death.  His work at Mobil Oil also allowed him to travel the world, and he would return with stories and presents from Japan, Australia, Europe and beyond. After he retired from Exxon Mobil in 1995, he joined the law firm of Birch, Stewart, Kolasch & Birch, LLP, Falls Church, VA where met his third wife Rosemary Olmert whom he was married to for 10 years until her death. After Rosemary died, he attended daily Catholic mass where he met his partner Nettie Mancini.  He spent several years living up in Clinton, NY with Nettie and enjoyed dinners out and spending time reminiscing about the past and watching movies.   One of his favorite trips was to have lunch on Glimmerglass lake in Cooperstown with his daughter Dorothy and partner, Nettie. Edward is survived by his partner Nettie, his brother William and six daughters along with numerous grandchildren and great grandchildren.  He is also survived by his step children, Chris, Stephen and Philip, from his marriage to Rosemary. Funeral services will be held at St Joseph’s Catholic Church in Herndon, VA on Thursday, September 15th beginning promptly at 10:30 am.  Please arrive at 10:15 am for seating.  There will also be a viewing on September 14th from 4-7 PM at Adams Green Funeral Home in Herndon, VA.