A very elite group of doctors at MUSC worked heroically to keep him alive, but eventually his injuries won out.
It is still incomprehensible.
Edwin, headed home on his bicycle after rowing on the Ashley River, was in a collision with an SUV at the corner of Lockwood and Montagu. He sustained multiple injuries and underwent emergency surgeries that went on for most of the day on Wednesday.
Edwin and his entire family always ride their bicycles around the peninsula whenever possible both for their enjoyment but because they believe it's the best way to get around.
Riding a bicycle around the peninsula was just one illustration of how Edwin always conducted his life as he believed.
He was always active, always stepping up, always involved in the life of the community. He himself had started the rowing program he enjoyed each Wednesday morning, working with a few others to build the boats and then managing the groups that came together to enjoy those Wednesday morning outings. He helped build the tender boat for the Spirit of South Carolina. He was always speaking up about school matters.
Edwin had been an influential member of the Peninsula Task Force, formed to survey the future of Charleston and make suggestions about how to be sure the City was headed in the best possible direction from standpoints of planning and regulation. The transportation subcommittee on which he served presented its first report to the larger group even as he lay fighting for life in the intensive care unit. The report, we all hope, will result in some enlightened changes in the City, changes that could be his lasting legacy.
Edwin Gardner had a charming way of cutting through the unnecessary flak, getting everyone talking. Sometimes, he may have seemed "out there," but it was usually just a trick to help people find insights for themselves, to think deeper.
Edwin was said to be 64 years of age. You wouldn't have known it. If you encountered him riding his bicycle with his wife Whitney and their 11-year-old daughter Olive, you would have guessed he was much younger. Always sunny and positive, he'd greet you with a large, toothy smile and ask whether you had heard about one thing or another. I never knew him to engage in small talk.
He was a great father, a great citizen. He'll be missed. But the example he set will stay with us.
You can read the Post & Courier article about Edwin by clicking here.
To read the tributes of others, please click here.
Tom Bradford
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