Holmdel Family Man, Coach Dies Of Coronavirus At Age 55

HOLMDEL, NJ — COVID-19 has claimed the life of a man who was born and raised in Holmdel, and found it such an ideal place to live that he decided to raise his family here.

On Saturday, Ed Harris, 55, lost his battle with coronavirus after he was diagnosed a mere three weeks earlier. Harris was incredibly well known in Holmdel, as a local dad, AAU basketball and baseball coach, and as a small-business owner. He owned the local landscaping business Holmdel Farms, which is known for selling Christmas trees in the area.

Harris leaves behind his wife of 25 years, Dina Masterpalo, and two sons, Jeffrey, 23, and Nick, 21. Both boys studied at Rutgers Business School; his oldest graduated last May.

"Holmdel lost one of its greatest citizens," said longtime friend and fellow Holmdel resident Tim McDonnell. "Ed is a Holmdel original. He was just a real salt-of-the-earth guy, really humble with no airs about him. Ed was happiest with a beer in his hand watching a basketball game. He was the kind of guy whose wife would have to nag him to wear a collared shirt if they went out to eat. He was a larger-than-life happy guy; nothing ever stressed him out."

Harris was born in Holmdel back when it was still pure farm country, the second youngest of seven brothers. All the Harris sons were among the first classes to graduate Holmdel High School. There, Harris played varsity football and basketball. In his twenties, he met his wife, Dina, who grew up in nearby Matawan, through friends.

He loved to give back to his community: Harris coached many teams in the Holmdel Youth Activities Association and AAU, and was a regular at Holmdel High School basketball games. He was also an avid Rutgers fan: McDonnell recalled traveling out of state to Rutgers basketball games with him, always ready to cheer on the New Jersey home team.

Like so many of the victims killed by this senselessness virus, Harris had no underlying conditions, didn't smoke and was relatively healthy, said his son and wife, who both talked to Patch about his death.

"They tried the whole nine yards with my Dad," said his oldest son, Jeff. "The malaria medicine (hydroxychloroquine), Remdesivir. It didn't work. A blood plasma donation. It didn't work. It was just a steady decline."

Harris started to feel all the classic symptoms three weeks ago, in late March, said his son.

"He started feeling like he had a fever and a cough. We brought him to the hospital (Riverview Medical Center in Red Bank) but they wouldn't admit him because his symptoms weren't that serious yet," said his oldest son. "They gave him Z-Pak (an antibiotic) and the malaria medicine."

The medicines have been successful in other patients. But with Harris they had little effect.

"He was just getting worse every day. His breathing was getting worse and his oxygen levels kept going down. It got to the point where he needed an oxygen tank. We borrowed one from a friend," said his son.

On April 6, his wife and sons convened: Their father was very, very sick. Jeff said his father was very leery of ventilators and was reluctant to go to the hospital.

"He was always like, Once you get put on a ventilator, you never get off," said his son. "But he finally agreed to go."

Dropping him off at Riverview on April 6 was heart-wrenching.

"We knew there was a possibility we wouldn't see him again. We were all scared because you get there and you can't even see him or visit him. We all hugged goodbye at the door," said Jeff. "That was the really sad part. We gave him big hugs."

His wife and two sons had already tested positive for the virus; amazingly, none of them had any symptoms.

The first few days in the hospital were actually OK, and Harris was FaceTiming with his family. But he kept losing oxygen. He had a very serious case of pneumonia that wasn't improving and fluid was filling his lungs. He started to become delirious from the lack of oxygen, his son said, and finally, he was put on a ventilator.

He remained on the breathing machine for a few days, and there was even a point where things were looking up. Doctors were discussing taking him off the ventilator the next day, said Jeff. But yet again, coronavirus had other plans for this man.

"That's when he started having issues with his liver and then issues with his kidneys," said his son. "Doctors had him on all kinds of drugs, they told us. Nothing worked. It got to the point where he was on this one medicine and that was the only thing keeping him alive. Doctors told us if they took him off the medicine, he would die."

It was the end. Because they had all tested positive, the family was allowed into his room at Riverview to say goodbye to their dad one last time. He was sedated and calm. Doctors stopped giving him all the drugs, and as they had predicted, Harris passed away peacefully on Saturday.

The virus had taken down a healthy, relatively young, six-foot-three man in a matter of three weeks. Harris will be buried alongside his father at Holmdel Cemetery; the family has not set a date yet. There will be a small gathering for his funeral, with Dina and her sons away from the others, said his son.

"I understand nobody wants to come near us because we have it," said Jeff matter-of-factly.

Jeff wants people to remember his dad as the cheerful, fun-loving youth basketball coach.

"We knew this older lady, a grandma, and he would take her to all our basketball games at Holmdel High when my brother and I played," he recalled. "Well, even after we left and went to college, my dad still picked her up and took her to the games. That's just the kind of person he was. He would accept you and think of others no matter what."

"Ed fought his hardest over the past month, but the COVID-19 virus was too much to handle," said McDonnell. "In my mind, he represented everything that is good about our town. Ed knew everybody in town and was always the first one to lend a hand to anyone in need. It's heartbreaking."

A GoFundMe was started for the family: https://www.gofundme.com/f/helping-the-harris-family-in-a-time-of-grief?utm_source=customer&utm_medium=copy_link-tip&utm_campaign=p_cp+share-sheet