Edward Dolson

Edward Mason Dolson, 75, passed away March 26, 2015, at home. The family will receive friends from 9-11:00 am, Monday, March 30, 2015 at Visitation Parish, 5141 Main St., Kansas City, MO 64112, followed by Mass of Christian Burial at 11:00 am. Private interment will be at a later date. In lieu of flowers the family suggests memorial donations to The V Foundation for Cancer Research. Donations may be made by visiting www.jimmyv.org.

Ed was born September 21, 1939 in Kansas City, Missouri, to Ralph and Elinor Dolson. He attended St. Francis Xavier elementary school, Rockhurst High School, and the University of Kansas, where he earned a business degree and was a member of the Phi Gamma Delta fraternity. Ed went on to the University of Michigan Law School, where he graduated in 1963. While at the U of M, he met his wife, Kay Clancy Dolson. They married August 10, 1963 and moved to New York where he practiced on Wall Street. They had three children, Michael, Patti, and Jennifer, whom he loved dearly and was eternally proud.

Ed and Kay returned to Kansas City in 1966, where Ed began a long and successful legal career specializing in corporate and franchise matters. He was a member of the Kansas City Missouri Bar Association and the Missouri Bar, and served as the President of the Lawyers Association of Kansas City and President of the Kansas City Michigan Alumni Association. He authored several articles on various corporate topics and franchising questions and spoke at continuing education programs for the Missouri Bar Association, the University of Missouri - Kansas City, the American Bar Association Forum Committee on Franchising and at the annual programs of the National Franchise Law Institute. He was also the co-author of the two-volume Aspen Publications Work, Missouri Corporate Forms and Practice and served as an Adjunct Professor of Law at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. He was a member of Visitation Church and devoted much time to many community and volunteer activities.

As anyone who knew him can attest, Ed had an unrivaled lust for life, with Kay always at his side as his willing and most enthusiastic co-conspirator. Whether he was throwing out the first pitch at the Royals game, attending a swanky movie premiere in New York City, cheering on his beloved Jayhawks, or going to San Francisco to watch the World Series, Ed was always prepared for (or more often, creating) an adventure. He and Kay loved traveling the world, and Ed also was an avid tennis player and golfer. More than anything, he loved spending time with his family and friends, and was always ready to regale an audience with one of his many stories (a few of which were even true) or loudly lead a crowd in singing Irish tunes. His extraordinary heart and spirit will be forever cherished and missed by the many who knew and loved him.



Ed is reunited his wife of 50 years, Kay, who passed away in February of 2014. He was also preceded in death by his parents, his sister Mary Elinor (Mimi) Delay and her husband Bills, and his son-in-law, Lee Garringer. Ed is survived by his three children: Michael and his wife Lisa, Patti and her husband Scott, and Jennifer and her husband David; eleven grandchildren: Conor and Ryan Dolson, Holly, Katy and her wife Marian, and Michael Garringer, Sean and Megan Orvis, Brittni, Cali and Gunnar Strickland; his sister Sue McKee and her husband Charlie, his sisters-in-law Pat Clancy, Mary Schell and Marianne (Cookie) McCall and her husband Jim, dear friend Vicki Leonard, numerous nieces and nephews, and more friends than can be counted.