C. Edward McVaney (Ed) of Denver, went to be with the Lord, June 4, age 79

Ed was born on December 29th, 1940, in Omaha, Nebraska, and was the third of four boys. His desire for knowledge and his strong work ethic were apparent even as a young man. He managed to pay his way through Creighton Prep by raising white lab mice in his basement and tending the pigs for the local veterinarian.

Despite challenges with dyslexia, Ed graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Nebraska. He went on to earn his MBA from Rutgers University, followed by his CPA. He married the love-of-his life, Carole, in 1963, and they made Colorado home, raising their three children, Kylee, Kevin, and Keith.

An unconventional visionary, in 1977 Ed co-founded J.D. Edwards, an ERP software company. Before the concept of corporate culture was popular, Ed created and lived out the J.D. Edward culture document where honoring God was the #1 corporate ideal. J.D. Edwards grew from three employees to 5,200 employees in over 107 countries and was eventually purchased by PeopleSoft/Oracle in 2002.

Never one to sit still for long, a mere year after retiring, Ed took an opportunity to serve his country in a way he had not been able to do as a young man. Despite those around him thinking he was crazy, Ed volunteered to work for the Iraqi transitional government following the second gulf war. Ed lived in a trailer behind Saddam Hussein’s palace and helped develop a database to track the bad guys.

Even in his “retirement,” Ed’s active mind was engaged in solving today’s technology and business challenges. In 2016, Ed founded Nextworld, a next-generation ERP software company, run by his daughter Kylee.

Ed believed in education and the importance of giving young people more opportunities. He was guided by his faith to give deeply of his time and his finances, mostly to assist the vulnerable and underserved. Ed volunteered as a probation officer and mentored at risk young men.

Later into Ed’s retirement, he developed a passion for distilling wisdom in a way that young people could appreciate and more easily absorb. Ed’s two most significant retirement projects were Tip Toeing Through the Classics and The Great Conversation.

Tip Toeing Through the Classics is a two-volume guidebook for citizen scholars. Ed partnered with students from Valor Christian High School to comprehensively summarize the classics, from Aristotle and Moses to the modern era.

The Great Conversation is a collection of 12 booklets written to his grandchildren. It gave Ed no greater joy than to have his friends and grandchildren dissect his writings. Ed wanted nothing more than for them to think and think deeply.

Ed’s passions were fly-fishing, antique cars, golfing, and ranching. No matter how much success he achieved, the most important things to Ed were family and faith. His greatest desire was that his children and grandchildren would surpass him with the fruits of the spirit: to be more joyful, more peaceful, more patient than himself. His prayer was, “Thank you Lord. May we be a blessing to others.”

Surviving Mr. McVaney is his devoted wife of 57 years, Carole; children, Kylee and her husband Gerry, Kevin and his wife Colleen and Keith and his wife Suzie, all of Denver, Colorado, well as nine deeply loved grandchildren (Samuel, Ben, Victoria, Charlie, Josh, Colman, Caroline, Thomas, and Rose Marie).