Edmond Charles Mercier

Edmond Charles Mercier

May 26, 1926 – November 3, 2024

Edmond Charles Mercier of Orange, Connecticut died November 3, 2024.

He was born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 26, 1926, to parents from two French immigrant families, Louis J. A. Mercier (1880-1953) and Zoé Lassagne Mercier (1883-1969). He was educated at St. Peter’s, Cambridge; Boston College High School; and Georgetown University.

He served in World War II, paratrooper in the 11th Airborne Division, and participated in the occupation of Luzon. After the war, he served in the Central Intelligence Agency in Germany, where in Frankfurt, he met his wife of 59 years, Shirley Gauch Mercier (1930-2017), marrying in 1958. They settled in Washington, DC.

In the army, he had trained in radio operation and for a time pursued a career as a radio host, working at stations in Talladega, Alabama; Front Royal, Virginia; and Cambridge, Maryland. He went on to work in configuration management for several Navy contractors in the Washington area who were building the Polaris, then Trident submarines.

In 1966 he became a founding tenor member of the Chorale (now Choir) of the National Shrine (now Basilica) of the Immaculate Conception and later, as a member of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Chevy Chase, sang in the choir and served as lector. As a community theater actor he appeared often with Kensington-Garrett Players and Montgomery Players. In retirement he enjoyed auditioning for small parts in films being shot in Baltimore and Washington, starring in a short horror film, Soft for Digging (2001), and appearing in Homicide: Life on the Street in 1997, Agnieszka Holland’s Washington Square (1997), and John Water’s Pecker (1998).

He is survived by his two sons Charles (spouse Wendy) and Paul (spouse Paula) and three grandchildren, Sofia (spouse Alex Molinari), Cole, and Francesca.

Funeral Mass, Thursday November 14, 2024, at St. Agnes Church, 400 Merwin Avenue, Milford, Connecticut at 10a.m. Interment with Military Honors to follow in State Veterans Cemetery in Middletown, Connecticut. Condolences may be expressed at Colonialfunerals.com.