Edmund Witherbee Peaslee, Jr. (Ed) passed away at Texas Health Presbyterian Hospital in Plano, Texas, on April 18, 2016.  Ed was born on April 7, 1928, to Edmund Witherbee Peaslee and Emily Wyeth Delafield in New York, New York. Both had significant ancestors in history, boasting direct lineage to such notables as Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, Statesman and Cardinal of the Roman Catholic Church under Henry the VIII, as well as ancestors who traveled over on the Mayflower, several of the founding fathers, and those who shaped the country through its bold and colorful history: John Winthrop, a staunch
puritan and eventual governor of Massachusetts Bay Colony; Francis Lewis and Philip Livingston, whose signatures grace the Declaration of Independence, and Elisabeth Livingston Ludlow, great grandmother of Eleanor Roosevelt. Through generations, the family was host to many historical figures such as Abraham Lincoln, who was photographed in one of their drawing rooms. Ed was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution, and the Aztec Club of 1847. Ed attended The Allen-Stevenson School in New York and The Pomfret School in Connecticut. He went on to study at Yale University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in just three years. He earned his MBA at Columbia University and graduated Summa Cum Laude. In 1956, the Alpha of New York Chapter elected Ed member of Beta Gamma Sigma. On June 27, 1953, he married Sally Dunn of Shanghai, China. A graduate of Lynchburg College and the world-renowned Shanghai Music Conservatory, Sally was accomplished pianist, organist, and artist. They met at a Christmas party hosted by The China Institute, in New York City, where she worked at the time. Ed chose to pursue a career in the Madison Avenue advertising world during the era famously portrayed in Mad Men, with Dancer Fitzgerald Sample, D’Arcy MacManus, and LaRoche, McCaffrey & McCall. Then in 1970, he accepted a position as Director of Marketing Research for Pepsi-Cola International, enabling him to move his family overseas to Hong Kong and allowing him to travel extensively throughout Asia, Australia and New Zealand.  Ed was an eternal scholar. A lover of languages, he knew many to varying degrees; he was fluent in Mandarin, Shanghai (Wu) dialect, Cantonese, French, Latin, and semi-fluent in Italian, Hawaiian, Thai, Japanese, Tagalog and Russian. In his later years, he picked up some Spanish from his caregivers. He studied history, culture, and literature and passionately translated many poems from Chinese to English.  Ed was also an artist who was accomplished in oil painting and various drawing techniques. He loved geology, astronomy, gardening, travel and his family.

Ed is survived by his three children, Elizabeth Kendrick Peaslee, Kathryn Hallett Peaslee, and Edmund W. Peaslee, III, and preceded in death by his wife, Sally D. Peaslee, and sister, Charlotte Hoffman Peaslee.

A wake will be held from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m., Monday, April 25, 2016 at Turrentine- Jackson-Morrow Funeral Home, 2525 Central Expressway North, Allen TX 75013.

A celebration of life service will be held 10:30 a.m., Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at Christ United Methodist Church, 3101 Coit Road, Plano, TX 75075 with Pastor Bart Smith officiating.

Memorials may be made to the American Diabetes Association.