In Remembrance: Edward Herrmann

Ed Herrmann passed away December 31, 2014 after being diagnosed earlier in the year with brain cancer. He died at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York where he had been hospitalized for several weeks. He was surrounded by his wife Star and his three children. He was 71.

He was known to most for his acting roles as Franklin Roosevelt, his appearances on “Gilmore Girls” and on other major films and television programs as well as his distinctive voice on audio books and documentaries. To us, however, he was known as a “car guy” who happened to be an actor. He was prone to Packard’s having owned several. His interest was developed at an early age as there is a photograph of Ed as a child standing in front of the family 1947 Packard. At the time of his passing he was working on a Full Classic 1934 Alvis Speed 20 and had developed an affinity for Hudson’s having driven one on a recent Copperstate 1000.

Herrmann had been the Master of Ceremonies at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance for the past 15 years. He was there, in a reduced role, for the 2014 Concours even though he was undergoing treatment for the malignant cancer. Ed served in numerous roles at other car events including many years as the Master of Ceremonies at the Kirkland Concours. He was also heavily involved with his close friend Bill Warner at the Amelia Island Concours d’Elegance.

Ed, Bill and several of their other buddies, all of large stature, were regulars at Hershey and always wore pink ball caps so they could find each other in the crowds. Fittingly they called themselves the “Pepto-Bismol Posse.”

Ed fought his insidious disease until the untimely end. He will be missed, pink cap and all, by those who knew him personally or through his many roles on stage and screen.