Edwin Maury Schorr

The following is a copy of Ed’s Proposed Obituary: Edwin ("Ed"/ "Eddie") M. Schorr was born on May 1, 1949, and died on Tuesday, December 9, 2025. He was preceded in death by his loving and extremely supportive parents, Yale and Evelyn Garfinkel Schorr. He is survived by his brothers, Dr. Jim Schorr and Jerrel (Arlene) Schorr, and his nieces, Stephanie (Brandon) Ellis and Elizabeth (Jeff) White, and their children, Hayden Ellis, and Shannon and Nolan White. Also, by his wonderful aunt and godmother, Helen Brounes, and numerous cousins. And some really great friends. He never married, nor had any children. He graduated from Bellaire High School, magna cum laude, National Honor Society, student council; and from Rice University, magna cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa. He received an MA, ABD, in Classics from the University of Cincinnati, studying one year abroad at the American School of Classical Studies in Athens, Greece. After graduating from high school, Ed went on a religious pilgrimage to the Holy Land, which was a life-altering event. Especially since this occurred immediately after the Six Day War of 1967, when it looked like Israel was going to be destroyed, but, instead, miraculously triumphed. While still in high school, he read books written by the controversial author, Dr. Immanuel Velikovsky ("Dr. V”), whose work, among other things, endeavors to show the historical accuracy of the Old Testament. Ed became one of his followers and arranged for him to give a series of lectures at Rice University. Ed worked directly with him in Princeton, New Jersey, to proofread, edit, fact check, update, vastly expand, and complete a number of unfinished books. Some accounts state that this took place while Ed was still a high school student, or a graduate student. It was actually during his second and third summers in college. Ed himself published a few articles, based on his own research. His greatest service to “the old man," however, was when he rescued him from drowning in his daughter's swimming pool. Among Dr. V.'s followers, Ed has been portrayed as a martyr, who was expelled from graduate school immediately after giving a lecture favorable to Dr. V. 's ideas, and that his life was ruined as a result thereof. Actually, Ed was threatened with expulsion, but it never took place. He continued to receive tuition and fellowship money for several years, plus an expense-paid year abroad in Greece. He kept quiet about the subject, and his professors assumed, incorrectly, that he had “seen the light," and realized "the error of his ways.'' But, in fact, Ed's research during that time strengthened his beliefs, and he did publish, under a pen name, 3 scholarly articles promoting Dr. V.'s theories. In his proposed doctoral dissertation, he again promoted those theories. He did not receive a PhD, due to his continued support for Dr. V.'s theories, but was granted an MA, despite still championing "heresy." His life was not ruined by grad school, but he did suffer from false and malicious accusations of disloyalty from one of Dr. V.'s jealous and zealous followers, and from Dr. V.'s followers and Dr. V. himself, believing that vicious lie. Ed performed clerical work for 4 years at Friendly Furniture Co. and was a lab technician for 3 years at Baylor College of Medicine. He was a paralegal for over 25 years in the City Attorney's Office of Houston, Texas. He was extremely proud of the job that he did there, was good at it, and enjoyed it. He helped to protect the interests of the City and to improve the lives of the people who live, work, visit, travel through, and/or own property In Houston. His greatest achievement was his key role in rescuing hundreds of old, original, detailed, irreplaceable real-property maps from imminent destruction. Before his health deteriorated, he enjoyed traveling, gardening, playing volleyball, attending lectures, the theatre, and symphonies. He liked classical music, watching old movies, TV sitcoms, programs about archaeology, history, science, and nature, and especially enjoyed doing research, problem solving, and keeping in touch with family and friends. To the best of his ability, he took care of both his parents in their final years and gave generously to numerous charities and institutions. He was very introverted, with low self-esteem, and, except in rare instances, was slow to make friends. But, over the years, he became lifelong friends with many people whom he met. He endeavored to be polite, kind, and helpful to everyone, but would do almost anything to help a friend, whether physically, financially, or by giving assistance, useful information, a different point of view, advice, encouragement, or simply listening. He was very loyal to them and felt good about helping them. And some of them were especially kind to him in his declining years, for which he was extremely grateful. His friends spanned the entire political spectrum from far left to far right. He tried to see the point of view of each of them. He himself was an independent - center left on some things, center right on others. He voted for the person or the proposition that seemed better, or against the one that seemed worse. He was proud that his friends also included many religions - Jewish, Catholic, various Protestant denominations, Unitarian, Jehovah's Witness, Greek/Eastern Orthodox, Hindu, Baha'i, Muslim, unaffiliated, and atheist. And that his friends comprised almost every ethnicity. He saw the common humanity in each of them as being much more important than their differences, and wished that everyone could do the same. Despite his disability, he tried to see the humor in mundane and sometimes even somber events, and to spread cheer to others. He used to send humorous, inspirational, and/or informative emails to friends and family. Whenever someone gave him exceptional service, he would praise them, both in person, and in writing or by phone to their supervisors, resulting in some of them receiving raises, and/or promotions, and/or better jobs. He was adept at foreign languages, and studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and German. He was conversant in all of these, though fluent in none of them. He found them useful in his travels abroad, and sometimes here in this country when dealing with people who spoke little or no English. In college, he was a co-founder of "Students for Israel," and was active, in college and beyond, in the "Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry." He attended rallies and wrote letters to the editors of numerous publications on behalf of both organizations. He sent letters of appeal to Soviet leaders, and to American political leaders, and letters of support and encouragement to people trying to escape the Soviet Union, but who were refused permission to leave. In grad school, and again thereafter, here in Houston, he volunteered to help those individuals and families who did escape the Soviet Union, to improve their conversational English skills and to get acclimated to life in America. He also sent letters to active and retired actors, directors, authors, comedians, composers, political leaders, journalists, pundits, etc., thanking them for the entertainment and/or the enlightenment/insights that they gave the world. He received some wonderful responses from them and maintained correspondence with some of them. He gave a number of illustrated presentations on archaeology and the Bible, both in this country and abroad. He attended public schools from K-12. In high school, he took a number of "Advanced Placement" courses. In those, as well as at Rice U, and in his Interactions with Dr. V., he was in the presence of brilliant minds. He himself was not of that caliber. He just had to work a lot harder to keep up with the others, often at the expense of a social life. Additionally, from age 3-18, he attended religious classes at Congregation Beth Yeshurun. At age 18, he was a co-director of Sabbath services there for pre-teens, and at age 30, he formed and led a singles group there. He was born into and raised in a kosher home, which he has maintained to this day. To the best of his ability, he strove to keep kosher outside the home, as well. Not so much for religious reasons, but in commemoration of generations past, who chose death rather than violating this tenet of their faith. And as a reminder, through self-denial, of his heritage. He did genealogical research on his family, and for over 10 years, he actively monitored Palestinian and pro-Palestinian websites, including official ones of the “Palestinian Authority" itself, amassing a huge collection (i.e., thousands) of maps, which he shared with others, all of which, unambiguously displayed that the future "State of Palestine" did not border on the current State of Israel, but instead swallowed every square inch of It. Despite his potential, and expectations to the contrary, he never became rich or famous, or accomplished anything noteworthy or great. He was no saint, and definitely had his flaws (impatience, frustration and "cussing," plus a very rebellious teenage streak, among them), but he strove to do the best that he could, trying to help others and to make things better than he found them, to lighten the loads and brighten the days of others. He tried not to complain about his circumstances to family and friends but endeavored to appear positive and cheerful. Yet, as the state of his health deteriorated, as did the quality of his life, he did suffer greatly. Thankfully, his suffering has now ended. He is grateful to all of the doctors (especially Dr. Courtney Sutherland), nurse practitioners, nurses, paramedics, support staff, therapists, etc., who took care of him during his numerous bouts of illness and recovery. He is grateful to his two brothers and sister-in-law for their help, as well as to his aunt and cousins for their support. Also to his great neighbors, Ray Bednar, Zahid Rizvi, and lram Ahmed, and to his home handyman, Alfred Lerner, for their help. And to his numerous friends and relatives for their concern and encouragement. He also wanted to acknowledge publicly the many years of loyal, dedicated, and devoted service to himself and his parents by his caregivers, Pat Wilson, Polly Taylor, Maritza Sandi, Anna Morris, and Keisha Mosley. He was a proud Houstonian, Texan, American, and member of the Jewish people. From this obituary's length, one might assume, incorrectly, that Ed had numerous, great accomplishments. Not true. He never talked much about himself, so few people really knew him, or else only knew bits and pieces of his life, some incorrectly. This was his one chance to tell his story. Admittedly, he composed this himself, so that if he is remembered, the information stated above will add context to it. He had multiple sclerosis for over 35 years – a debilitating auto-immune disease, which left him susceptible to numerous infections. These often put him, weak and bed-ridden, in the hospital. He always strove as hard as he could to "bounce back," to the best of his ability, to his former state of health. Usually, successfully. But he recently suffered from 3 back-to-back infections - bacteremia, COVID, and a urinary tract infection, from which he was unable to recover. Should anyone care to make a charitable contribution in his memory, please donate it to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, www.nationalmssociety.org, the Jewish National Fund, www.jnf.org, or the charity of your choice.

Edwin Maury Schorr

May 1, 1949 - December 9, 2025