Edward Labinowciz Obituary

On June 17th, 2025 Edward (Ed) Labinowicz passed away after celebrating his 92nd birthday. Ed was born May 30th, 1933 in Winnipeg, Canada, the son of Polish immigrants, John and Mary. He was preceded in death by his wife Shirley and his sister Catherine Labinowicz of Winnipeg, Canada. He is survived by his life partner, Brenda Lakin of Los Angeles, California.
He was educated in its public school, and graduated from the U. of Manitoba with a B.Sc. in 1956. Following 7 years of teaching in Winnipeg's junior and senior high schools, he took sabbatical leave, and supported by a N.S.F. grant, he earned a M.S. degree in chemistry at the U. of Hawaii. A Ph.D. in science education from Florida State U. (1970) soon followed.
He taught at California State University, Northridge for the next 22 years, conducted research on children's logical thinking and authored two books. Here, he met Shirley, soon to be his wife, and developed two other life-long friendships with Brenda Lakin and Van Buchanan, his team-teaching partners.
Shirley's background in teaching and psychology contributed greatly to being a compatible partner in work life, travel, tennis and retirement. In 1993, they moved to Gresham, Oregon in the foothills of Mt. Hood, where they immersed themselves in nature-scaping a Creekside hill property-beginning with major blackberry clearing. They also became advocates for responsible hillside development through the Gresham Neighborhood Association, and through Ed's many letters to the Gresham Outlook, over several years. After 35 years of marriage, Shirley passed away in 2008.
The following year, he developed a closer relationship with Brenda Lakin, his former colleague and life-long friend. They soon established a pattern of daily phone calls and then alternating visits between their respective homes in Gresham and Los Angeles. They viewed their relationship to be one of life partners, with no need to be formalized.
Ed considered himself to be lucky in love. While he always took life and work seriously, he was able to find two exceptional independent women who became compatible life partners, each with the ability to keep him from taking his work and himself too seriously.
An informal celebration of Ed's life will be scheduled at a later date.