Until we meet again at Ed’s table

With the heaviest of hearts we say goodbye to our dearest friend and fellow Mapper, Ed Mytych.

September 28, 1950 ~ April 30, 2026 (75)

Like Sandy Morris, Glen Rouse, and Tim Lowry before him, Ed is one of the greats who made an enormous impact on getting the ALS community closer to a treatment and quality care and who we had the honor to work with and call friend. Ed made this impact through many channels, including GeoALS, ALS United, and I Am ALS.

We don’t even know where to start when it comes to acknowledging Ed’s great acts and strong moral character. From fundraising and working for good causes throughout his life (inside the ALS space and outside of it as well) to cleverly priortizing his daily energy to get the biggest bang for the buck to help others, Ed was steadfast in his faith, seeing the best in people, and working to help those in need.

But possibly Ed’s most giving quality was how he was willing to drop everything to help someone else. Ed could’ve been in the middle of the worst part of the battle of ALS, but he would still answer a call or help crunch data and not let anyone know that he was struggling. All of the big success stories of GeoALS directly involve Ed’s brilliant technical work, solution design skills, general guidance, and that willingness to drop everything to help a friend or a good cause.

To steal from Ed’s obituary his favorite quote, which illustrates well the unending depths of his generosity, “When you find yourself blessed more than others, build a longer table, not a taller fence."

You can pay tribute to Ed by donating to his Hershey ALS United Walk Team: Alienate ALS as part of ALS Awareness Month in May: https://secure.alsmidatlantic.org/site/TR/Endurance/General?pg=personal&px=1159157&fr_id=1312

We leave you with a beautiful song Ed composed that closed out the HH Avatars and Voices symposium he organized.

Ed, we will miss you with all of our hearts until the day we meet again at your welcoming and heart-warming table.