Edward Nelson Madison, a former mayor of Sands Point, has died.
Madison was 92 years old when he died June 6 at his home in Boulder, Colorado.
He served two terms as mayor of the Village of Sands Point, from 1982 to 1989.
Born in Devonshire Parish, Bermuda, on Oct. 10, 1927, Madison grew up in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, and Flushing, Queens, the son of Edward Madison of Skien, Norway, and Charlotte Madison (nee Wilson) of Devonshire, Bermuda.
Madison entered the U.S. Merchant Marine Academy in 1945 as a midshipman, studying marine engineering for two years and serving a year at sea. He later attended and graduated from Cornell University in 1952, where he studied mechanical engineering for three years and industrial and labor relations for two years. After graduating, he served as a finance officer in the U.S. Army from 1952 to 1955, where he met his wife, Nancy.
The couple then settled in Sands Point, where they raised their four children. In the following 40 years, Madison served as president of Prest-O-Sales and Service, a chemical distribution company based in Long Island City.
He also served as president of his industry trade association and gave his time to numerous advisory boards, including the first hospice pilot program in New York. At the same time, he earned a master’s degree in business administration in finance from what is now LIU Post.
Madison’s two terms as the mayor of Sands Point came as the village was attracting wealthy figures in the private and public sectors. A 1986 New York Times article listed the chief executives of Pfizer Inc. and Brooklyn Union Gas, a former chairman of Merrill Lynch International, the widow of a founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and W. Averell Harriman, a former governor of New York, among the village’s residents.
”Sands Point has the feel of a bucolic setting while being within easy reach of inner-city New York,” Madison told The Times.
In their time on the Port Washington peninsula, members of the Madison family were active in the Manhasset Bay Yacht Club, and enjoyed sailing on the Long Island Sound, as well as enjoying tennis in leagues and golfing at Sands Point Golf Club.
Four years after his time as mayor ended, Madison retired in 1993 and relocated to Boulder with his wife. He was a volunteer at Boulder Community Health for many years, and his family recalls him as a lover of animals and a people person.
“Ed took genuine interest in every person he met and found the greatest satisfaction in listening to people,” the Madison family said in a statement. “He was a great orator himself and always conveyed a message of diplomacy and fairness and let each person know how important they were to him.”
Madison spent his last months at Trail Winds Hospice in Boulder. He was predeceased by his parents and sister, Charlotte, and is survived by his wife and his children Douglas, James, Sherry and Susan, as well as four grandchildren.
