FALMOUTH – Edward “Ted” Reynolds died peacefully on Dec. 25, 2025 at Falmouth House, in Falmouth.

Ted was born in New York City, N.Y. on April 25, 1926 to Edward Reynolds, Sr. and Dorothea Curtis Jordan. He grew up with three sisters, Deborah, Carmen and Dorothea, living in Greenwich Village and on Shippan Point in Stamford, Conn.

The family spent their summers in Maine on the island of Vinalhaven, in a seasonal house built in 1900 by their paternal grandfather. Ted learned to sail there and maintained a lifelong interest in coastal cruising. At his death, he was the longest-active member of the Cruising Club of America.

During the Second World War, the family moved to Washington, D.C., joining the father who had taken a leave from his job to serve as the U.S. Army General responsible for overseas medical supplies. Ted was at Milton Academy, in Massachusetts, for much of this period. After graduating in 1944, Ted enlisted in the U.S. Navy, serving for two years with a construction battalion in the Philippines. After the war ended, he enrolled at Harvard where he rowed on the first freshman crew, and then on the varsity crew during his remaining three years. He graduated in 1950, and after a year teaching school, attended Harvard Business School, graduating in 1953.

In September 1953, he married Joan Gale, daughter of Winsor and Natalie Gale of Weston, Mass. The wedding was in Annisquam, Mass., and their honeymoon was spent cruising along the coast of Maine. Ted’s first job was with Canadian Pratt & Whitney Aircraft in the suburbs of Montreal, Quebec, where he and Joan lived for seven years and had three children.

From Montreal they moved to Concord, Mass., where they had a fourth child and stayed for nearly 25 years. During this period, Ted held executive roles at Mitre Corporation, a government think tank, and at Houghton Mifflin, an educational and trade book publisher. His final full-time position before retiring was with publisher John Wiley & Sons in New York City, N.Y. He remained active with organizations that were developing thinking skills programs for pre-school and school-age children through his work with HIPPY and Innovative Sciences.

Ted and Joan retired to a farm on the Eastern shore of Virginia, where their lives were busy for the next 10 years with horses and dogs and boats. They spent their summers sharing the house in Vinalhaven with their children and grandchildren.

Wherever they lived, Ted enjoyed doing household repairs and maintenance on their property himself, usually under close observation from one of his young sons. It is perhaps not surprising that two of his sons are now involved in architecture, another is a general building contractor, and the fourth has a hobby in woodworking.

Ted lost his heart’s desire, Joanie, to illness in 2010. A year later, he moved to the Portland area to be near his youngest grandchildren.

He is survived and missed by his four sons, Ned (Irene), Peter (Elise), James (Karin) and Joseph (Sarah); nine grandchildren; nine great-grandchildren (awaiting the tenth and eleventh), and numerous nieces and nephews.

A memorial to Ted’s life will be held at noon on June 27 in Portland.