Edward Cooper McWilliams

It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of Ed McWilliams on October 23, 2024. Ed was an only child who spent his life becoming a brother to many. He was a third generation Coloradan born in Denver on November 16, 1947 to Robert H. McWilliams, Jr. and Catherine Cooper McWilliams and spent his entire life, except those great college years, in the same zip code in Denver. 

Ed spent his life making and nurturing relationships. He was a loving and devoted son, husband, father and grandfather. He made friends easily and kept them throughout his life. 

In his early life, his family lived across the street from the Denver Tennis Club and he began playing tennis with his father when he was four years old. Tennis and later squash were his two lifelong sports passions. 

He graduated from George Washington High School, where he played on the varsity tennis team and ran on the track team. He attended the University of Colorado at Boulder where he played on the CU varsity tennis team. 

Two months before his graduation he met Marilyn Wells. They were married the next year and recently celebrated their 54th wedding anniversary. Ed and Marilyn had three daughters together, Catherine “Kate” MacDonald (Kenneth MacDonald, Jr.), Sarah McWilliams Franklin (Steven Franklin) and Anne Cooper McWilliams. 

Ed was an avid outdoorsman and spent much of his time hiking and fishing in the Colorado mountains. He loved to travel and had adventures trekking in Nepal, climbing Mount Kilimanjaro, hiking Machu Picchu, the Milford Track in New Zealand and the Isle of Skye. He loved visiting National Parks in the West and his favorite was the Grand Canyon. He floated it five times with friends and took one of his daughters each time to share that special place with him. 

Ed fulfilled a lifelong dream to attend all of the world’s major tennis tournaments, his own Grand Slam of the Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, and the US Open. No matter where Ed traveled, there was no place more special to him than his family cabin in the Colorado mountains.

Ed belonged to a number of organizations throughout his life, including the Glenelk Association, Phi Kappa Tau Fraternity, the Denver Tennis Club, the Denver Club, the Denver Athletic Club, the Jesters squash organization, the Crestmoor Community Association, the Denver Rotary Club, the Gyro Club, and the Denver Board of Realtors. He was honored as a “Living Legend” by the C Club at the University of Colorado. 

Ed was a Real Estate Broker for 48 years and loved helping his clients make one of life’s biggest decisions, where they would live (and how they would pay for it). His daughter Anne joined him in the real estate business and he very much enjoyed working with her, sharing his expertise. 

In addition to his wife and daughters, Ed is survived by five grandchildren, Edward “Teddy” MacDonald, Stella and Robert “Bobby” Franklin, and Wiley and Arlo Manning. Other survivors are Carole, Richard and Rod Hayward, Kendall Heise (Kim Heise), Clark Campbell, Gregory McWilliams, Jenny Paddock (Dixon Hutchinson), Joan McWilliams, Jeanette Killip (Jeff Killip) and Kendall Cady. 

Ed was loved by many and will be dearly missed. 

Funeral details: St. John’s Episcopal Cathedral (1350 N. Washington Street, Denver) at 2:00 PM on Thursday, November 21. After the service there will be a reception at the Denver Country Club. 

Donation in memory details: Ed requested donations be made to the CU Women’s Tennis program. To do so, go here: giving.cu.edu and in the ‘gift designation’ section, type in “Tennis Program Fund”.