Dr. Edward Anthony Liske, Jr formerly of San Antonio, TX, died in his home in Frisco, TX Feb 26, 2018 surrounded by his family. He was a wonderful husband, father and grandfather. He loved two things above all else, his family and using his analytical mind in the pursuit of knowledge.
Born on Jan 16, 1929 in Detroit MI to Edward and Gertrude Liske. Ed grew up in Washington DC with his sister Dolores. He earned an academic scholarship to Gonzaga College HS where he also excelled in multiple sports. He attended and graduated from Georgetown University, also on scholarship. In 1955 he graduated from Georgetown Medical School. Ed became fascinated by the workings of the brain and chose a career around understanding and healing it. He trained in Neurology in Iowa and the Mayo Clinic. He served in the Air Force as a physician in Japan in the late 1950s, where he developed a love of aviation and would later become a civilian pilot.
In 1959, while completing his residency in Neurology at the University of Wisconsin, he fell in love with his future wife Karen Sabra Thomas, who was attending graduate school there. They married in July 1, 1961, and by the following year they started their family. Ed flew Karen and their young children on several memorable cross country trips in a small Cessna plane. In 1963 they moved to San Antonio TX, where he took a position as a research Neurologist at the School of Aerospace Medicine @ Brooks AFB. He was a pioneer in studying the effects of high velocity and space travel on the brain for the original space program at NASA. He authored numerous articles on brain wave analysis. Many awards were received throughout his career including several from the American EEG Society and the AMA. His family grew as he took a research position at Baylor School of Medicine Houston followed by Professor of Neurology at the UNM Albuquerque. This research also gave him early experience in the use of computers in medicine, and he would continue programming computers as a hobby his entire life.
Ed and Karen settled down in San Antonio in 1970 to focus on raising their family and on his medical practice. For the next 25 years, Dr. Liske diligently treated countless patients with care. He also lovingly assisted and cared for his parents until they passed.
For recreation, he enjoyed taking his kids to swim at Padre Island, camping and hiking in the Texas Hill country and the Southwest, and playing tennis with his children. He loved nurturing their talent and eventually spent many weekends watching his kids play in high school and college tennis tournaments across Texas.
In his retirement, he enjoyed his ever growing number of grandchildren, reading the paper with Karen, going on long walks and surprising strangers with unexpected witty and kind remarks. An accomplished chess player in his youth, he enjoyed teaching the game to his children and grandchildren. He also loved to test his custom developed computer programs at Retama and other race tracks to handicap horse races.
Dr. Liske is survived by his wife of 57 years: Karen Thomas Liske; his sister, Dolores. His five children and sixteen grandchildren: son Hans and Lynn Liske; children Loreal and Lindsay; daughter Ericka and Rudy Bruno; children Natalie, Estelle, Jonathan, Ava and Miles; son Peter; children Madeline, Sienna and Colton; daughter Alexandra and Jeff Eichel; children Nicholas, Erin and Reagan; daughter Andrea and Steve Wentz; children Avery, Stewart and Sarina.
The impact that he left on his family is profound and inspiring, and he will be remembered and cherished throughout their lives.
A celebration of his life will be held on Wednesday March 7th @ 11:30am at Club Giraud, 707 N. St Mary’s St. San Antonio, 78205. In lieu of or flowers: donations- McNay Art Museum or the charity of your choice is preferable.