Edward Luther Felton Jr. Obituary
Edward L. Felton Jr., 86, of Scottsdale, AZ and Crested Butte, CO passed away peacefully in his sleep on December 16, 2023. Ed grew up on a peanut and hog farm in southeastern Virginia. He attended an 11-grade school system, played 6-man football, was active in 4-H, and graduated in a class of 28. Ed knew the value of education. He graduated from the University of Richmond, earned a Bachelor of Divinity Degree from Southeastern Theological Seminary (which allowed him to frequently officiate at the marriages of his children, his students and his friends), and earned a masters and doctoral degree in Business Administration from Harvard University.
An education is not complete until you pass it on. To that end, Ed taught at the graduate business schools at Harvard University, University of Virginia, Wake Forest University (where he was Dean), Samford University (where he was a University Professor) and the College of William & Mary (where he had a Chaired Professorship and founded a program in Ethics and Strategy). Ed received teaching awards at Virginia, Wake Forest, Samford and William & Mary, authored or co-authored 12 books and wrote over 300 articles and management case studies.
Ed was an educational innovator who led teams that established international business schools in the Philippines, Iran, Central America, Pakistan, and the Dominican Republic. Ed's family lived overseas for eight years during those periods of adventure and impact. Ed was a teacher and management consultant in both the private and public sectors, both nationally and internationally, for over 30 years. Ed's private sector consulting was principally in the agribusiness, airline, financial and utility industries, while his public sector consulting was with institutions such as the World Bank, The Rockefeller Foundation, the Ford Foundation, USAID and various foreign governments.
At last count, Ed had traveled to over 80 countries, and had seen sites such as the Khyber Pass, Stonehenge, the Great Barrier Reef, the Serengeti, the Straits of Magellan, Kilimanjaro, Persepolis and the Okavango Delta. Ed is survived by his children (Thad and Kimberley) and his grandchildren (Kate, Mitchell, Grayson, Keleher and Alex). Donations in Ed's name can be made to the Stanton Home (http://www.stantonhome.org), a residential farming community for adults with disabilities where his granddaughter Kate lives.
If one had to sum up Ed's life with a quote, Ed shared a belief with Viktor Frankl - "The meaning of life … is to help others find the meaning of theirs.".
