Yes, Ed designed the Tauri.

I felt very privileged to have had the brief opportunity to speak with Ed by phone shortly before he became ill.

I had just written the second of two articles for Model Aviation magazine about vintage pattern, VR/CS and SPA. One of the e-mails I received after that article was from a guy who had Ed's address. Ed had been a long-time hero of mine since I follwed early R/C pattern as a special interest of mine, and had considered the Taurus to be the first "modern-era" pattern plane. It still flys beautifully today on proportional radios. I had been wanting to contact Ed for a long time about his tremendous contribution to pattern modeling, but I didn't know his address. After begging the guy, and promising I would not pester him, he gave it to me. I sent Ed both of my articles, and asked if he could comment on them. I had also included an enlargement of a picture of him taken with his "taper-wing" Taurus by by Dad at a 1965 Detroit Invitational-this picture was included in the first M.A. article I wrote in May 2006.

I was also particularly interested in his giant, (at the time) Simla design, as that model had been mentioned in my second article. Ed and fellow cub member Vic Husak, (and possibly others), had gotten together and decided that "big was better" and smoother, and wanted to try their hand at designing a large pattern model. Vic's model was the King Alltair, (which Ed named). Ed's Simla was a one-time model built without plans.

A week went by. Finally I received several phone messages on my answering machine from Ed while I was away at an SPA contest. My wife even contacted me saying that Ed had called on her cell phone trying to reach me. We eventually got together by phone, and we had several conversations in late July-early August of 2007 about Ed's R/C career, his reasons for leaving the hobby, and details of the Simla. One conversation lasted over an hour, and it was wondferful to talk to him.

He sounded somewhat frail over the phone, but was otherwise healthy. He mentioned the story told earlier that he had been interested in getting back into R/C, but that he didn't feel he could physically do it. He told me of upcoming back surgery to relieve pain caused by pressure on spinal nerves. He was not looking forward to the surgery, but it was necessary. We made tentative plans for me to travel to Chicago to meet him in person, and interview him, but he wanted the surgery out of the way first. The surgery was Aug 23rd.

After about three weeks post surgery I contacted him, but there was no answer. Eventually the phone was disconnected. Apparently the surgery didn't go well, and he passed away a few months later. Like all of us who understand and appreciate his contribution to R/C pattern, I was saddened at his passing. I would have loved to meet him personally

I remember distinctly that one of the things he DID tell me on the phone, was that the 11 years he spent in R/C were the "best years of his life" when he looked back. It's nice to know he felt that way, and that he still had a fond spot for vintage R/C pattern after being out of the hobby nearly 40 years..