By PAMELA DEY VOSSLER
THE DARIEN MONUMENTS AND CEREMONIES COMMISSION, organizers of Darien’s Memorial Day festivities, is pleased to announce longtime Darien resident Ed Glassmeyer as the Grand Marshal of this year’s parade which steps off from Kings Highway Market (formerly Goodwives Shopping Center) at 10am on Memorial Day, May 25th.
A veteran of the Vietnam War, Ed commissioned into the United States Marine Corp as a 2nd lieutenant after graduation from Princeton in 1963. He attended Basic School in Quantico then served in country as an artillery officer based out of Chu Lai on the coast of Viet Nam for 18 months. During his time in Viet Nam, he led Marines to hilltop positions to call in artillery fire against the Viet Cong and achieved the rank of 1st lieutenant.
After his three years of service, Ed earned an MBA with distinction from the Amos Tuck School at Dartmouth College then moved to New York City to pursue a career in finance. He started at Citicorp Venture Capital and progressed to Managing Partner of the Sprout Group at Donaldson, Lufkin, Jenrette. In 1978, he co-founded Oak Investment Partners where he is the Managing Partner. He is the founding director of the National Venture Capital Association which oversees quality control and best practices among member firms. He received their Lifetime Achievement Award in 2005.
Though proud to be named Grand Marshal, (“If I can’t be proud of being a Marine, I can’t be proud of anything,” he said), Ed is a reluctant hero. A humble, private man of remarkably good cheer, he insists on the everyman nature of his service. “I don’t want to be ‘the guy,’ I just want to be part of the program,” he said, echoing how he saw himself in Viet Nam.
“I think being a Marine is not just war. It’s getting yourself put together into a better person. Because you’ve got to go through stuff. Everyone is going through it,” he said.
Ed, who is also a great grandson of Charles Floyd, governor of New Hampshire in the early 1900s, brought his commitment to service to Darien with his wife Penny upon their arrival in 1968. A devoted hockey and Little League coach, he also supported Penny in her efforts to revitalize downtown Darien while the couple raised their five children, all of whom reside locally.
About giving back, Ed said, “There’s something that you have that we all want to learn from. Everybody has something that they do better than anybody else …and we owe it to each other to share what we know.”
As Grand Marshal, an honorary position awarded to a veteran honorably discharged at least five years prior to selection who has contributed meaningfully to the community, Ed will lead the parade. Upon reaching the reviewing stand in front of Nielsen’s Florist, he will join elected officials and this year’s keynote speaker, Darien’s Emma Powless, a 2020 graduate of West Point and captain in the U.S Army. At the parade’s end, Ed will lead the Pledge of Allegiance at Grove Street Veterans Cemetery and accompany First Selectman Jon Zagrodzky in the reading of Darien’s war dead, striking a bell gong three times as the last name from each conflict is read.
Past Grand Marshals in Darien include Walter Ericsson, Bill Flannigan, John Geoghegan, Phil Kraft, Walter McCurdy, Eugene Boyle, Lenny Hunter Edward B. Goodnow, Bob Mitchell, Patricia Parlette, Allan Bixler, Pete Kenyon, John Wolcott, Bruce Kinloch, Eugene Markowski and Patsy Joseph Lobardo.
