Edward P. Riley of Saugus, formerly of Melrose, died on Friday, October 30, 2026 after a long struggle with Lewy body dementia. He was 77.
Eddie, as everyone called him, played varsity hockey at Malden Catholic High School, graduating in 1967, and went on to play at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. The game stayed with him: he followed the Bruins and, less conventionally for a Saugus man, the Toronto Maple Leafs, and he followed his grandson Calvin’s games with particular pride. He worked for many years for the United States Department of Defense.
His family describes a gentle and generous man who never had a bad word for anyone, and whose happiest hours in later years were spent reading to his granddaughters Colleen and Molly.
He leaves his wife, Maureen (O’Brien) Riley of Saugus; his sons Douglas of Saugus and Patrick and his wife Emily of Scituate; his grandchildren Molly, Colleen and Calvin, and Calvin’s father, Mark Robinson; his sister Jane of California; his brother-in-law Larry Sarkozy of Windham, New Hampshire; his nieces Jennifer Branch and Meredith Melling and nephews Christopher Melling and Larry Sarkozy and their spouses; the extended O’Brien family; and many cousins and friends. His daughter Katelyn, his parents Edward and Sarah Riley and his sister Regina died before him.
Visiting hours are Sunday, November 8 from 3 to 7 p.m. at the Gately Funeral Home, 79 West Foster Street, Melrose. A Mass of Christian burial is Monday, November 9 at 11 a.m. at Incarnation Church, 429 Upham Street, Melrose, with burial at Wyoming Cemetery, 205 Sylvan Street, Melrose. The family suggests memorial gifts to NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness, 174 Appleton Street, Cambridge 02138.
Compiled from information published by Gately Funeral Home. Photograph courtesy of the family via Gately 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.
