Edward J. Cotter
EDWARD J. COTTER
CHIEF
DERBY FIRE DEPT
STORM AMBULANCE
US NAVY WWII
PHOTO-JOURNALIST
|
Edward J. Cotter Jr. (1920-2012) seemed to be just about every
where something important was happening in Derby and throughout the
Valley throughout his life. In a departure from other biographies of our
Hall of Famers, we submit the biography submitted by just one of his nominators - his grandson
David Lenart:
In 1939, a young sports reporter for the Evening
Sentinel was asked by his father to join The Storm Engine Company
firehouse in Derby. Because the Sentinel office was located next-door
to the firehouse, and the Storm’s needed drivers to get the apparatus
out on calls during the day, it seemed like the smart thing to do.
Little did anyone realize that the story of one of the greatest heroes
to ever live in the Valley was about to begin; an adventure that would
last over 65 years. Edward J Cotter Jr., a long time legend in
firefighting and emergency medical services, is retiring at the end of
this year. I think it is only fair to Ed to take a moment and look back
over his career.
Ed joined the Storm’s in 1939 at the request of
his father, a past Captain of the company. Ed served as a fireman and
driver until 1941 when, like most members of the “Greatest Generation”,
he entered the service to defend his country. Ed joined the Navy and
served as a firefighter for part of the war at the U.S. Naval Station in
Newport, R.I. There he would be exposed to new state-of-the-art
firefighting equipment and techniques. Ed’s leadership and take-charge
abilities were soon recognized and he was ultimately tapped to run the
day-to day operations of the fire squad and was in charge of training
new firefighters. He was then sent out to sea in the Pacific aboard the
U.S.S. New Hanover. During this time he was awarded a good conduct medal
and participated in the Battle of Okinawa. Ed’s naval service ended with
the war and he went back home to his loving wife Eleanor to start a
family, he even got his old job back at the Sentinel.
In 1946 Ed was asked by the town fathers of
Derby to serve as Asst. Fire Chief. He took the job and changed the face
of emergency services in the Valley forever. Armed with his training and
knowledge from the Navy, he started modernizing the fire department with
new firefighting techniques and equipment, some of which are still used
today.
In 1948 after years of taking pictures of people
dying in the streets from lack of medical care, Ed, along with Fire
Chief Richard Kiley and some valley businessmen, formed the Storm Engine
Company Ambulance Corps. The new corps provided Derby, and the Lower
Naugatuck Valley, with its first ambulance service. Finishing his term
as Fire Chief in 1954, Ed continued as president of the Ambulance Corps
until 1985. Ed always kept the Ambulance Corps at the cutting edge of
technology. In 1952, because of the great increase in traffic and motor
vehicle accidents in Derby, and the large industrial base of factories,
he determined that there was a need for another vehicle to carry
necessary rescue equipment to motor vehicle and industrial accidents. A
jeep was purchased and it became the predecessor of today’s large rescue
vehicles. In 1955 a rescue boat was added to the fleet of vehicles and
soon after it was the only one of its kind in service. During the 1955
floods, Ed used the boat to rescue numerous residents of Derby and
Ansonia. After the flood he was named the fire coordinator for Derby,
with the responsibility of securing federal funds for firefighter
training. Over the years the Ed has been a pioneer in delivering
emergency medical care and rescue services to the valley. The volunteers
of the corps were the first to have two way radio contact with the
Griffin Hospital and the first in the valley to have certified Emergency
Medical Technicians.
There have been many other memorable firsts for
the ambulance corps, with Ed at the helm. They were the first to use
HARE traction splints for fractured legs, the first to use
defibrillators, the first to use Military Anti Shock Trousers and were
the first to utilize air bags for lifting heavy objects trapping
persons. They were the first advanced life support technicians in the
valley. Ed was also a leader in shaping the EMS system in the region by
being on the ad-hock committee that formed the South Central Emergency
Medical Services Council. The corps also joined the C-MED radio system,
the day it went into operation, making possible, for the first time,
direct communications between the doctors at the hospital and the EMT’s
in the field delivering advanced care. In addition to emergency medical
care he also has been a leader in rescue technology. Ed purchased the
first Hurst “Jaws of Life” tool in New England and the third in the
nation. Twenty minutes after being placed in service the tool was used
in Ansonia to remove a trapped driver.
Ed also spent a large part of his life training
firefighters. He served as an instructor for the New Haven Fire School
from 1947 until 1978 and, in 1966, he was an organizer of the Valley
Fire Chief’s Training School in Derby. Ed trained firefighters from all
over the Valley for the next 20 years.
Ed has worn many other “hats” during his
career. In Derby he served as Civil Defense Director from 1956 to 1960,
he helped organize the Valley Civil Defense Council and was the New
Haven County representative on the Governor’s Advisory Committee on
Firefighting in the 1950’s. He was the Fire Commissioner in the City
Derby from 1970 to 1978. He also represented the city on the Valley
Health Department and was chairman of the Board of Directors of the
Veterans Memorial Center. For years he volunteered as photographer and
special police officer for the Derby Police Department. He also
volunteered at a little league umpire and has organized numerous blood
drives for the Valley Fireman’s Blood Bank and the American Red Cross.
Ed has received, over the years, awards and
commendations too numerous to count. He is however, most proud of the
fact that he is the only valley resident to have received all four major
valley humanitarian awards: three of which were: The Charles H. Flynn
Memorial Award sponsored by the United Way, The Gold Seal Award from
the Valley Chamber of Commerce, The Law Day award from the Valley Bar
Association. In 2011 Ed was inducted to the State of Connecticut’s
Firefighters Hall of Fame.
There aren’t many established families, living
in the Valley, that haven’t been affected in a positive way by Ed’s
efforts. How many lives has he saved, how many people has he helped,
how many ambulance calls has he been on?
He has graciously passed the torch of service
down to his family. Ed's daughter Ellen, and four grandchildren
volunteer with the Storm Ambulance Corp & The Storm Engine Company. His
son-in-law, Thomas Lenart, now serves as the Storm Ambulance Corp’s
Chief. His Grandson Tom Lenart Jr. is an assistant Fire Chief in the
Derby Volunteer Fire Department and a Lieutenant in the Greenwich Fire
Department, another Grandson David is a Career Firefighter in the City
of Bridgeport and assistant Chief of the Storm Ambulance & Rescue Corps.
Both are firefighter and EMS Instructors. When he was 84, he came across
a car accident in Oxford and, with the help of a volunteer firefighter,
pulled a victim in cardiac arrest from the car and administered CPR. The
victim was revived and lived for two more weeks in the hospital.
Here is an early article about Ed Cotter written way back in 1974
when he was named as the winner of Valley United Way's prestigious
Charles H. Flynn Humanitarian Award:
Edward J. Cotter Jr. long a leader in firefighting and ambulance work
in me Valley will receive the United Fund's fourth annual Charles H
Flynn Memorial Award for Humanitarian Service
The award will be presented Thursday at the annual United Fund
meeting and awards dinner at Rapp's Paradise Inn. Ansonia. The public is
invited A social hour at 7 p.m. will precede dinner at 7:30PM.
Cotter is chief photographer and Derby reporter for The Evening
Sentinel, having served on the news staff since 1939.
The award is given for unselfish efforts in behalf of the people
of the Valley - efforts that have made Ansonia, Derby, Shelton, Seymour
and Oxford better places in which to live.
In a quarter-century, Cotter has never missed a night call
of the Storm Engine Company Ambulance Corps in Derby The first such unit
in the Valley. which he organized in 1948 and of which he is
co-chairman. He has also answered hundreds of daytime calls. The corps
recently presented him an engraved wrist watch for, his services.
Now fire commissioner in Derby. Cotter has been a volunteer
fireman there since 1939 and served as chief from 1946 to 1954.
He-was-an organizer of the Valley Fire Chiefs' Training School on
O'Sullivan's Island eight years ago and is still its coordinator, he
also helped organize the Valley Fire Chiefs' Emergency plan and served
as its president. For the past 27 years he has-been an instructor at the
Connecticut Slate Fire College. During the Korean War, he represented
New Haven County on the Governor's Advisory Committee on Firefighting,
and he was a member of the committee that set up and secured funds for
the New Haven County Fire Chiefs' Emergency Plan, which serves most of
the Valley.
When floods swept the Valley in 1955, Cotter was named volunteer
fire coordinator for Derby, with the responsibility of securing federal funds He has also been chairman
of the Storms building committee.
The award to Cotter will be presented by Simeon lsaacson of
Seymour, chairman of the United Fund's search committee. Other members
of the committee are the Rev Lawrence A Larson of Ansonia, Miss Helena
Cullen of Shelton, Mrs. Walter H Dahn of Oxford and H. Lindsley Reuwet
of Derby.
Cotter's activities have by no means been confined to firefighting
and ambulance work. For a dozen years he was a volunteer umpire in the
Derby Little League. Before the organization of the Red Cross blood
program in the Valley, he was chairman of the Valley Firemen s Blood
Bank for five years. He also served as disaster chairman for the Valley
Chapter, American Red Cross, for four years.
Cotter has long been interested in civil defense, serving as CD
director for Derby from 1956 to 1960 and as CD fire coordinator in 1955
and 1956. He was the organizer and is former chairman of the Valley
Civil Defense Council.
He is a member of the board of directors of the Valley Health
Department, representing Derby, and has been chairman of the board of
directors of the Veterans Memorial Center in Derby since it opened eight
years ago.
For a quarter-century he served as unpaid photographer and special
police officer for the Derby Police Department.
Cotter was born in Derby on Nov. 11, 1920, the son of a retired
motor-vehicles inspector and the late Mrs. Edward J. Cotter. He served
in the United Stales Navy for four years during World War II. With the
exception of the war years, he has been a member of the news staff of
The Evening Sentinel since l939.
He is married lo the former Eleanor Wilhelmy of Ansonia Mr. and
Mrs. Cotter have two children, Ellen Jane and James Edward.
The award is dedicated to the memory of Charles H. Flynn Jr. for
many years the editor of the Evening Sentinel
Return to Hall of Fame
Back to
Derby Home page
|