Dr. Edwin R. Dass

 Oct. 5, 1939 - Dec. 16, 2021 

Dr. Edwin R. Dass was born on October 5, 1939 in Amritsar, Punjab, India. The son of Samuel and Gemma Dass, he was the eldest of six children. 

During the 1950s, he attended high school at Roorkee School in Uttarakhand, India. From there, he attended Spicer Memorial College in Pune, India from 1957-1963. It was there, in 1963, that he met and married his wife, Marcelline, of 58 years. They had their first son, Elzever, in August of 1965 and their second son, Erwin, in February of 1967.

In 1967, Edwin immigrated to the U.S. on a student visa. Marcelline and the children followed three months later. He worked on his master’s from Andrews University in Berrien Springs, Michigan, graduating in 1969. He went on to get his Specialist in Education from Western Michigan University in 1974 and finally his PhD in Business Administration from Kensington University in 1988. 

Edwin worked as a Social Studies teacher at Fairplain Junior High School, Benton Harbor, Michigan from 1969-79, which was highlighted by his winning Teacher of the Year in his district in 1979. In 1980, he started his own business, A-1 Travel, in Berrien Springs, Michigan. While running that business, he fulfilled one of his lifelong dreams of seeing the world before the age of 50 and, along the way, made sure to give high-quality tours, showing so many others the joy of travel.

During his first residence in the U.S., his passions were family, friends, music, and travel. He was able to see his children attend grade school, high school, and graduate. He, his brother, and their friends formed a music group which regularly performed locally and across the country. He was well known in his community for throwing parties based on food, film, and music.

In 1988, he sold his business and returned to his high school alma mater in India to become the Principal and President of Roorkee SDA Inter-College until 2011. He transformed the dilapidated, financially bankrupt, academically poor school with low enrollment into a vibrant inter-college. He developed a pristine campus with high-academic achievements, exceeding measurements of government-regulated examinations. The campus became the envy of local, regional, and international institutions and was visited by many from India and abroad, but most important to Edwin was the success of the students who attended.

In 2011, he officially retired and returned to the U.S., settling in Southern California where he continued his active social and singing passions in the local Seventh-Day Adventist church and Indian community. During this time, he was able to put a lot of focus on his family and was able to regularly visit with them. He passed away at Loma Linda University Medical Center, Room 1207A, on December 16, 2021 at 6:14 PM.

He is preceded by his brother, David, in 1995, his father in 1998, his mother in 2004, and his sister, Orica, in 2021. He is survived by his wife Marcelline, his two sons Elzever and Erwin, his two daughter-in-laws Judy and Cinzia, and his two sisters Helen and Vinny.