Phantom of the Ring columnist, Ed Garea Passes Away

I just received a text from Ed Garea's sister who texted me that our longtime CAC brother shockingly passed away last Thursday, July 6. 

I'd known Ed since he was my first editor at Wrestling Eye magazine in the 1980's and we stayed friends ever since. Fellow CAC member Carmine Despirito took over as Wrestling Eye editor when Ed left. Few knew their pro wrestling history better than Ed, especially its original carnival and AT show origins. He was still watching all of today's current product until his passing. 

Ed turned his never-ending energy and love of the biz into his work as an on-staff writer along with other top reporter/columnists for the respected Wrestling Perspective newsletter for its entire run. Perspective had intelligent wrestling commentary and breakdowns but also Ed's satiric take on wrestling news. He never revealed his real shoot name in Perspective, instead taking the pen name of the Wrestling Phantom (Ed as the Wrestling Phantom is pictured, above). 

Ed and I never lost touch and fellow CAC'er Evan Ginzburg was close to him as well. We had him on our various joint radio shows and podcasts, often comparing thoughts on what Bruno Sammartino, Moolah, Nick Bockwinkel, Penny Banner, Red Bastien, etc had told us individually on a variety of topics, wrestling-related and otherwise. Ed talked to everyone.

He lost a leg several years ago which he said had been due to cancer. He then moved from his Northeast base to Texas to live with his sister Jayne Webster who wanted to take care of him from then on. Jayne's text read "Mike, my heart breaks to tell you that Eddie just passed away from a rare, aggressive form of Salivary Gland cancer. About 4 weeks ago, he had a slight cheek swelling which spread to his lymph nodes and was inoperable specialists said. I brought him home to hospice and he passed in 2 weeks. Living in a brand-new state here with no friends around the last few years was tough on him. But thanks to his longtime friends like you and others from wrestling, he had people he could reach out to and who checked in on him. Wrestling meant so much to him." Ed Garea had a ton of wrestling friends and colleagues but also many from other life genres. He was also well known in the tv and film community for his screenplays and later column reviews also including theater. He was also well known by those at TCM/Turner Classic Movies as well as studios like Fox and Disney.

As soon as I hear how fans and friends of Ed's can honor him and/or if there's a service, I'll update here to everyone in our CAC community.

Please check this article again at a later time for any updates.