By Sean P. Ray | Managing Editor
Edward “Ed” Graf Jr., who along with his wife Mary Ann Graf transformed St. Mary’s Church and Priory into The Priory Hotel and Grand Hall at the Priory, passed away on Sept. 22 at the age of 86.
Although born in Ross Township, Ed had been living on the Northside since 2000. He is most well known on the Northside for founding The Priory Hotel alongside his wife, having purchased St. Mary’s Church in 1984. The church had been closed since 1981 and was under threat of demolition as part of the construction of Interstate 279.
Ed, who had been an executive with the advertising and public relations agency Ketchum Communications, renovated the property and reopened its doors as a hotel and event venue in 1986, where it has remained as a major landmark of the Northside.
John Graf, Ed and Mary Ann’s son and current president & CEO of Priory Hospitality Group, said he remembered the saving of the church as being “a bit out of character” for his dad at the time.
“It was a side of my dad that I hadn’t seen before,” he said. “Somebody willing to take a big risk.”
Ed retired from Ketchum Communications in 1996 and moved to Deutschtown four years later, remaining close to the building he helped save. John said Ed was known on the Northside in “two incarnations,” once as the person saving St. Mary’s and a second time as a neighbor when he moved.
“A lot of people I’ve talked to since he passed didn’t really know about his life as a corporate executive,” he said.
“By the time they got to know him in the early 2000s, he was retired for five years,” he added later.
John said his father “came to have an affinity” for the Northside, greatly enjoying the diversity of people living there, the short distance to travel to local amenities and the “neighborliness” residents showed to one another.
Ed was a life member of Teutonia Mannerchor, Deutschtown’s iconic German cultural club. He served in a variety of roles at the club, including trustee, officer, choir member and director.
John Erskine, a trustee with Teutonia Mannerchor, described Ed as a “behind the scenes kind of guy,” always ready for a project to improve the club but not one who liked to claim a lot of credit. One such project Erskine mentioned is the club’s biergarten.
“The biergarten really was his (Ed’s) idea,” he said.
Erskine said Ed was “very proud” of his Swiss and German heritage, and especially enjoyed singing in the club’s choirs. He would visit Teutonia Mannerchor frequently, even when his health started making such visits more difficult.
“I think we lost a giant, and it will be something we come to realize over time,” he said.
John said that since his father’s passing, many people, some whom John had never met before, had approached him with stories about how his dad impacted their lives.
“It’s been gratifying for me,” he said. “He’s been gone for two weeks now and the number of people who have come up to me, who said that he has touched their lives, just by providing guidance and good advice by being a steady figure.”
Ed was preceded in death by Mary Ann, who passed away in 2014, as well as his parents, and his brother Denis. He is survived by his three sons, John, Stephen and Tim, as well as by his sister, Gail Hodgins and eight grandchildren.
John said a permanent memorial of some kind for Ed and Mary Ann is in the works at The Priory, though an exact location has not yet been determined.
Ed’s funeral was held on Sept. 29 at St. John’s Evangelical Lutheran Church of Perrysville, with a memorial wake held at The Priory later that day.
To memorialize Ed, the family has asked that contributions be made to WORK, an organization that helps lift people out of poverty in areas such as Haiti and Ghana through dignified jobs. Contributions can be made to dowork.org/donate.
