Edward Texas
March 5, 1927 — November 19, 2017
Edward Hal Corrigan, businessman, investor, and philanthropist of Laredo, Texas, died peacefully at his home on November 19, 2017. Born March 5, 1927 to Anita Alyce Sharkey Corrigan and Edward Harrington Corrigan, “EH”, as he was widely known, lived all his life in Laredo, though his business interests and support of the arts made him a well-known presence in New York, Washington, DC, San Antonio, Vienna, Salzburg, and Santa Fe.
EH attended Martin High School in Laredo and St. Edward’s Military Academy now St. Edward’s University, in Austin (Class of 1944). He was graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, DC (Class of 1949), where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. During World War II, EH served with the U.S. Navy at the U.S. Naval Hospital in San Francisco, CA. He succeeded his father and brother as President of a U.S. Customs Broker Firm in Brownsville, Hidalgo, and Laredo, TX, from which he retired in 1997.
After his discharge from the U.S. Navy in 1950, EH traveled to Vienna and Salzburg. Though he was not to return until many years later, it was this venture that stirred his lifelong interest in great music. On this trip, he noted, “just about every church in those regions had its own rich schedule of choral programs and organ recitals.” He returned to Laredo and along with other Laredo philanthropists and music/arts lovers, he created the Laredo Civic Music Association which brought to Laredo the musical life he experienced in Austria, the Río Grande Arts Commission which sponsored organ recitals and choral concerts in Laredo’s churches, and also championed and patronized concerts and exhibits of modern art. Beginning in 1980, EH traveled each year to Salzburg and Vienna for the Easter Festival, developing a network of fellow music and opera followers in those cities.
EH’s life focused on a philanthropic dedication to opera that led to his becoming a longtime member of the Metropolitan Opera Association of New York. Over many decades, his support of the arts helped mount productions at Lincoln Center in New York City, at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC and the Santa Fe Opera in Santa Fe. In addition, he served as trustee of the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, TX; the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, TX; the Santa Fe Opera and the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, NM; and the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC.
Most transforming of civic life is EH’s legacy to his hometown of Laredo, TX. As a logical expansion of the Laredo Civic Music Association, he was a founding member of the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1980. In 2006, he gifted, in memory of his mother Anita Sharkey Corrigan, the Sharkey-Corrigan Pipe organ to Texas A&M International University. The Sharkey-Corrigan Organ has welcomed gifted organists from throughout the world, has permitted the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra to lead in presenting works for organ and orchestra, and has allowed the creation of a wide array of programs, all of which have brought to South Texas what EH Corrigan first heard, as a young man, on a trip to Austria in 1950.
EH Corrigan is survived by niece and nephews Anita Ruth W. Rothwell (G.F. Rothwell V) of Bethesda, MD; George Edward Wenning of Austin, TX; and Patrick Bartholomew Wenning (William Toscano) of Silver Spring, MD; grandniece and grandnephew Caitlin Alyce Rothwell and G.F. “Pancho” Rothwell VI.
Following his final wishes, a memorial concert will be held on Sunday, March 25, 2018, beginning at 4 o'clock in the afternoon at the TAMIU Fine & Performing Arts Center.
Memorial gifts may be sent to:
Texas A&M International University Organ Fund in Laredo TX; Attention: Elizabeth Jones Rubio FPA 217,
Gladys Porter Zoo Endowment Fund in Brownsville, TX,
The McNay Museum of Art Print Collection in San Antonio, TX,
The Metropolitan Opera Endowment Fund in New York City in the care of
The Metropolitan Opera, Development Office, 30 Lincoln Center, New York, NY 10023 or
The Santa Fe Opera Endowment Fund in Santa Fe.
Arrangements are under the care and direction of the funeral service professionals at Joe Jackson Heights Funeral Chapels, 719 Loring at Cortez, Laredo, TX 78040, 956.722.0001
Edward Hal Corrigan, businessman, investor, and philanthropist of Laredo, Texas, died peacefully at his home on November 19, 2017. Born March 5, 1927 to Anita Alyce Sharkey Corrigan and Edward Harrington Corrigan, “EH”, as he was widely known, lived all his life in Laredo, though his business interests and support of the arts made him a well-known presence in New York, Washington, DC, San Antonio, Vienna, Salzburg, and Santa Fe.
EH attended Martin High School in Laredo and St. Edward’s Military Academy now St. Edward’s University, in Austin (Class of 1944). He was graduated from the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, DC (Class of 1949), where he was inducted into Phi Beta Kappa Honor Society. During World War II, EH served with the U.S. Navy at the U.S. Naval Hospital in San Francisco, CA. He succeeded his father and brother as President of a U.S. Customs Broker Firm in Brownsville, Hidalgo, and Laredo, TX, from which he retired in 1997.
After his discharge from the U.S. Navy in 1950, EH traveled to Vienna and Salzburg. Though he was not to return until many years later, it was this venture that stirred his lifelong interest in great music. On this trip, he noted, “just about every church in those regions had its own rich schedule of choral programs and organ recitals.” He returned to Laredo and along with other Laredo philanthropists and music/arts lovers, he created the Laredo Civic Music Association which brought to Laredo the musical life he experienced in Austria, the Río Grande Arts Commission which sponsored organ recitals and choral concerts in Laredo’s churches, and also championed and patronized concerts and exhibits of modern art. Beginning in 1980, EH traveled each year to Salzburg and Vienna for the Easter Festival, developing a network of fellow music and opera followers in those cities.
EH’s life focused on a philanthropic dedication to opera that led to his becoming a longtime member of the Metropolitan Opera Association of New York. Over many decades, his support of the arts helped mount productions at Lincoln Center in New York City, at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC and the Santa Fe Opera in Santa Fe. In addition, he served as trustee of the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville, TX; the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, TX; the Santa Fe Opera and the Georgia O’Keefe Museum in Santa Fe, NM; and the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, DC.
Most transforming of civic life is EH’s legacy to his hometown of Laredo, TX. As a logical expansion of the Laredo Civic Music Association, he was a founding member of the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra in 1980. In 2006, he gifted, in memory of his mother Anita Sharkey Corrigan, the Sharkey-Corrigan Pipe organ to Texas A&M International University. The Sharkey-Corrigan Organ has welcomed gifted organists from throughout the world, has permitted the Laredo Philharmonic Orchestra to lead in presenting works for organ and orchestra, and has allowed the creation of a wide array of programs, all of which have brought to South Texas what EH Corrigan first heard, as a young man, on a trip to Austria in 1950.
EH Corrigan is survived by niece and nephews Anita Ruth W. Rothwell (G.F. Rothwell V) of Bethesda, MD; George Edward Wenning of Austin, TX; and Patrick Bartholomew Wenning (William Toscano) of Silver Spring, MD; grandniece and grandnephew Caitlin Alyce Rothwell and G.F. “Pancho” Rothwell VI.
Following his final wishes, a memorial concert will be held on Sunday, March 25, 2018, beginning at 4 o'clock in the afternoon at the TAMIU Fine & Performing Arts Center.
Memorial gifts may be sent to:
Texas A&M International University Organ Fund in Laredo TX; Attention: Elizabeth Jones Rubio FPA 217,
Gladys Porter Zoo Endowment Fund in Brownsville, TX,
The McNay Museum of Art Print Collection in San Antonio, TX,
The Metropolitan Opera Endowment Fund in New York City in the care of
The Metropolitan Opera, Development Office, 30 Lincoln Center, New York, NY 10023 or
The Santa Fe Opera Endowment Fund in Santa Fe.
Arrangements are under the care and direction of the funeral service professionals at Joe Jackson Heights Funeral Chapels, 719 Loring at Cortez, Laredo, TX 78040, 956.722.0001
Guestbook
Visits: 3
This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the
Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Service map data © OpenStreetMap contributors