Edward F. LaFond Jr., 77, passed away on June 24 after a stroke, at the home he and his wife, Virginia, restored many years ago. He was surrounded by family and friends. He will be remembered as full of life, laughter, and a touch of irreverence. He was proud to have been born in Benjamin Franklin's Wing of the Pennsylvania Hospital to Margaret W. and Edward F. LaFond of Philadelphia. After graduating from high school in Wilmington, Del., Edward graduated from the University of Delaware, where he attained a Bachelor of Arts and then a Master of Arts through the university’s Winterthur Program of Early American Culture. His 1964 master's thesis was the first catalog of the Winterthur Museum's clock collection.
His first job was as curator of the Chester County Historical Society. In 1966, he became the field curator of the Bureau of Historic Sites and Properties of the Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, responsible for the collections and furnishings of multiple historic sites around the state. Next he became the keeper of the Pennsylvania Register of Historic Sites and Properties (now State Preservation Officer).
Leaving the commission in 1973, he started his own business buying, restoring, and selling antiques, specializing in clocks. He remained in business until 2011, when he retired and passed the clock restoration business on to his son. Ed served as a consultant and/or restorer for clock collections in museums and institutions across the country, including the MET, Colonial Williamsburg, the MFA in Boston, the PMA, Winterthur, the U.S. Department of State - Diplomatic Reception Rooms, the Independence National Historical Park, the Free Library of Philadelphia, the Dallas Museum of Art, the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, the Toledo Museum, the Cumberland County Historical Society, the Pennsylvania Hospital, and the Dumbarton House in Washington, D.C.
He also served as an adviser or curator for many special exhibits, including "It’s About Time" for the Philadelphia Antiques Show in 2000, "Silver in Maryland" for the Maryland Historical Society in 1983, "Clocks of the Susquehanna Valley" at the Packwood House Museum in 1989, "Made in Cumberland County" for the Cumberland County Historical Society in 1991, and "Pennsylvania Shelf Clocks" for the NAWC in Columbia, Pa., in 1980.
He also wrote many articles in major clock journals and served as a consultant for many publications, culminating in his book, written with J. Carter Harris in 2008, "Pennsylvania Shelf and Bracket Clocks 1750-1850." He presented lectures around the country primarily on the history of clock-making in America, which was his first love.
He developed a major collection of American jazz recordings from the 1920s and 1930s, a passion he loved to loudly share with anyone who entered his record room. Indeed, his idea of heaven was a room where Fats Waller, J.S. Bach and Louis Armstrong were jamming happily together and where he could sit down and listen until the end of time. We hope he is there now, with some coffee ice cream, a tall clock, and some photos of all those who loved and cared for him.
He is survived by his wife, Virginia (Ames); his daughter, Sarah L. White, and son-in-law, Brent C. White; son, William A. LaFond; his granddaughter, Olivia W. White; his sister, Janet Kingsland, and brother-in-law, Herbert Kingsland; and his nephew, Stephen Kingsland, and his wife, Julie.