Edward S. Sadowski, Eddie to everyone, died peacefully at his home on Marco Island, Florida on October 26, 2026, with his daughters beside him, after a battle with cancer. He was 95, and Wilmington was his town for most of those years.
He was born in New York City on November 8, 1930, the son of Steven and Katherine (Nyles) Sadowski, spent his early childhood in foster care in East Bridgewater and came to Wilmington as a teenager. At Wilmington High School he played on the undefeated 1948-49 football team, later inducted into the Wilmington Wildcat Hall of Fame, and graduated with the class of 1949.
In 1952 he married his high school sweetheart, Rosa Amaro. Soon after the honeymoon he was drafted, served with the Army’s 307th Engineer Battalion overseas during the Korean War from May 1952, and was discharged in May 1954. Back in Wilmington, on a piece of family land on Forest Street, he built the family’s house with his own hands.
He started as a draftsman while studying engineering at Northeastern University and went on to become lead engineer at Harvard University’s high energy physics laboratory, designing devices that contributed to work associated with Nobel Prizes; his contributions are recognized at the Smithsonian Institution. Among his own designs was a patient transport backboard that EMTs and fire departments still use. At home he built a color television from scratch, painted Christmas murals, kept his Cadillacs running and maintained rental properties.
He and Rosa traveled Europe and the Caribbean, loved Las Vegas and kept a cottage on Plum Island, where he surf fished off the jetty. More than 30 years ago they bought a retirement home on Marco Island, where he boated, fished and golfed and the two of them hosted everyone who came through. After Rosa’s death he found love again with the late Helen Kocoras and was welcomed by her children and their families.
He leaves his daughters, Rosann Guarino and her husband, Mark, and Leeann Sadowski and her partner, Lincoln Williams, all of Wilmington; his grandchildren, Tarryn Guarino and her wife, Dede, of Lynn, Evan Guarino and his wife, Chelsea, of Bolton, and Jonathan Sadowski and his partner, Shelby Barillas, of Wilmington; his great-grandchildren, Nolan and Quinn Guarino; his brother-in-law John Amaro of Wilmington; his nieces and nephews Robin and Bob Gearty, Cherylann and Peter Arvanitis and Patti Silva; cousins Maria and Tino Pires and Martin Vieira; and many great-nieces, great-nephews and friends. His wife, Rosa; his in-laws Dolores and George Silva and Phyllis Amaro; his nephew Rick Silva; his niece Denise Amaro; and his cousin Marie Vieira died before him.
Visiting hours were held Monday, November 2 at the Nichols Funeral Home, 187 Middlesex Avenue, Wilmington, and a funeral Mass was celebrated Tuesday, November 3 at St. Thomas Church, 126 Middlesex Avenue, followed by interment with military honors at Wildwood Cemetery. Donations in his memory may be made to the Wounded Warrior Project, P.O. Box 758516, Topeka, KS 66675-8516.
Compiled from information published by Nichols Funeral Home, 187 Middlesex Avenue, Wilmington. Photograph courtesy of the family via Nichols Funeral Home. This is our own summary, not the family’s obituary; read the full obituary and leave a condolence at the funeral home’s page on Legacy.com. Corrections: we will fix any error promptly.
