Eddie Chan
Eddie Chan painted sexy pin-ups for both "Esquire magazine" and Brown and Bigelow. His work was seen in "Esquire" as two-page gatefolds. Beginning in 1952, and also as part of the magazine's 1952 pinup calendar. Chan was one of a handful of artists selected for Brown and Bigelow's famous 1953 Ballyhoo calendar (among the others on the project were Al Moore, J. Frederick Smith, and Ward Brackett)
In addition to pinup glamour art, Chan painted a series of front covers for "American Weekly", the Hearst newspapers Sunday magazine supplement. During his commercial art career; he did a great deal of art advertising work for national accounts. From the late 1940s through the 1960s, he also painted front covers and store illustrations for most of the major mainstream magazines.
Obituary
Remembering Ed Chan, a friend, great photographer, mentor, volleyball icon
- By Lee Feinswog -September 18, 2021[Source 1]
One day in the spring of 2016, my cellphone rang.
It was Ed Chan.
“We can buy Volleyball magazine if you want,” Ed said.
“Sure,” I replied.
“OK,” he said.
“Thanks. Keep me posted.”
And that was it.
It was a call that changed both our lives, and, we’d like to think, the volleyball world for the better.
We were more than business partners. We came from different worlds, could not have been less alike, and grew to be great friends, sometimes talking on the phone 10 times a day, he from his home in San Diego and me from mine in Baton Rouge. I drove him nuts, and he put up with me, and along the way, we made VolleyballMag.com the best it could be, day in and day out.
Now he’s gone, and in many ways, I feel like I lost a brother.
Ed Chan had many loves and likes. But I’m betting the top three were his wife, Julie, volleyball, and food.
Julie is a wonderful person doing the best she can in the aftermath of Ed’s sudden and surprising death two weeks ago.
The volleyball world, especially beach volleyball, lost a beloved icon.
Ed was more than the best volleyball photographer. He was the nicest man you have ever met. And later in this piece, you’ll hear from some of his photog buddies and others who knew him through VolleyballMag.com and the volleyball world.
As you would imagine, this is tough to write. I don’t even know where to begin, so I’ll start at the beginning.
Thanks to two of its former editors, first Aubrey Everett and then Megan Kaplon, Volleyball magazine would host a dinner for its freelancers at the NCAA women’s and men’s final fours.
Ed, Julie, Aubrey, Megan after a news conference at the 2012 NCAA Championship in Louisville
And that’s how I got to know Ed and Julie, who always called him Eddie.
Ed and I had vastly different personalities. He took photos, I wrote stories, and, except for volleyball, we seemed to have little in common. But I enjoyed getting to know him. Julie, who came to all those events and helped Ed lug around all that damn photo equipment, even jumped in and shot the matches.
As things progressed into 2015, I was disenchanted with Volleyball magazine and, while still contributing, started a website called DestinationVolleyball.com. As we got into 2016, I decided it was time to make that bigger and better and put Volleyball magazine out of business.
One of the first people I talked to about it was Ed. He and a few others were on board. Things began to move in that direction until that fateful day, while I was driving from Baton Rouge to Houston.
Ed was calling.
Ed never called.
Within 30 seconds, we were on our way to becoming what I’ve jokingly called “publishing magnates.”
Ed bought the magazine, and it wasn’t until more than three years later that I even knew how much he paid. He procured it, we each threw in a bunch of operating cash, I took care of the business end, and we got to launching the new website. Shortly before the 2016 Olympics, we folded the print version of the magazine and launched the new-and-improved version of VolleyballMag.com.
We never looked back and have grown VolleyballMag.com exponentially.
Which, if you think about it, is simply amazing when you consider what an odd couple we were. The self-professed “quiet Chinese guy” in San Diego and an obnoxious New Yorker living in Louisiana.
But we liked each other and worked so well together and loved what we were doing. We never took a penny, either, putting all the money back into the website, using it for travel, and paying freelancers.
On days when we worked especially hard and were proud of what we’d done, Ed would joke that he was going to double my pay.
Ed died in his sleep on September 3, 2021, in his hotel, after covering the two days of qualifying at AVP Chicago. He was 60.
It’s not right, it’s not fair, and it’s so freakin’ sad.
He was the nicest man you have ever known, and he simply loved volleyball, especially beach volleyball. He loved the sport, and he loved the people, from the players to support personnel to the fans to the officials and especially his fellow shooters.
And he must have loved the sand.
When I went to Chicago that weekend in September to take care of his possessions (did I mention all that damn camera equipment?) there was a full cup of sand that I scooped out of one of his suitcases.
We covered a few beach events together, but after getting sunburn and blisters on my feet at the FIVB Beach Volleyball World Championships in Vienna in 2017, I told him I’d kill him if he ever made me go to a pro beach event again. I laughed about that two weeks ago when I was covering the last two days of AVP Chicago.
And in all seriousness, Ed came to AVPNext in New Orleans this past June because I wanted us to cover it together.
I happened to be looking at the entry list and was taken aback by the number of big-time players scheduled to be there. I called him and told him to book a flight.
I’m so glad I did, because that was the last time we were together, and I will always treasure those few days.
But that was in person. Regardless of where we were, we talked on the phone so many times a day, always working around being two time zones apart. We laughed and argued like an old married couple and somehow always got things posted on the website and social media and said goodbye. Then we started all over the next day.
- I would give anything to do it again.
Sources
External links
Chat rooms • What links here • Copyright info • Contact information • Category:Root