From the Olio
Deceased January 23, 2022
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In Memory
My report of Ed’s sudden death generated an outpouring from classmates sharing my grief. None of us could believe this joyful, caring, passionate soul had left us. Classmates urged that this memoriam convey how close he remained to so many of us over the decades.
Ed and I were big-city public school kids assigned as roommates freshman year. Ed was pre-med (choosing Amherst over Harvard because he planned to go to Harvard Med—and did). He was a crew coxswain, philosophy major, political organizer and active member of Phi Psi. After a cross-country road trip visiting classmates, we roomed together senior year and were first man at each other’s weddings. Our families remained close over the decades. We miss him dearly.
During surgical training, Ed became interested in health policy and equity and earned an M.P.H. He founded the Northwestern University Center for Health Services and Policy Research and became a thought leader in the development of “managed care,” traveling the country as a sought-out speaker. “I adored Ed Hughes,” said Northwestern President Morton Schapiro. “[H]is countless devoted students can attest to his brilliance and his humanity.” Ed was preparing for his remote class of 75 students worldwide when he suffered a heart attack at his Cape Cod home.
Ed and his beloved wife, Sue, met as children. They purchased their house and the neighboring historic homestead in West Falmouth, close to the neighborhood on the Cape where they grew up and played together. Every year, after the Falmouth Road Race, they hosted a fabulous lawn party, enjoyed by classmates, friends and neighbors.
Ed is survived by Susan (a nationally recognized gerontologist and professor at UIC and his wife of 55 years); children Edward, John ’95 (Kristen Welker) and Dempsey ’01; granddaughter Margot; and siblings Betty Craig and Paul Hughes.
Henry Freedman ’62
