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JAG Officer’s Trip Down Memory Lane
Edward Bean (B.S. ’87) was 17 when he joined the U.S. Marines in 1976. Young and without specific goals for the future, he reveled in his first exposure to the world beyond the small, Northern Californian logging community where he grew up. He was a young man in search of adventure. In the years that followed, he found much more than he bargained for, and he credits NYIT for giving him the tools needed to meet those challenges.
Not long after enlisting, Ed noticed that several of his fellow Marines were making more money than he was. After some research, he found out why — they were married. Not wasting any time, Ed went straight to his sergeant and asked him to make an announcement that Ed was looking for a wife. The sergeant went along with Ed’s request, and soon after, a young woman named Candy walked up to Ed and said, “I’m looking to make some extra money, too.”
They got married, and, as Ed puts it, the two realized they had common interests and started dating. Noting that they weren’t meant to last as a couple, Ed said that his and Candy’s decision to marry helped trigger a series of events that would lead him to NYIT and the career of his dreams.
When it came time to leave the military, Ed followed Candy to New York. They had no idea what they were going to do. But fortune was on their side. A lost legal dispute with a landlord over pest infestation convinced Ed to take a stab at being a lawyer. The first step toward pursuing a legal career was enrolling at NYIT’s Old Westbury campus, where Ed soon learned that if he worked at the school, he could earn a bachelor’s degree for free. He got a job in the bursar’s office and practically moved in. “NYIT became my life,” he recalled. “I was there morning, noon and night.”
Coming from a small town, and growing up without some of the things we take for granted now, such as a TV set, Ed realized he didn’t know much about the world. “My mind was a blank chalkboard,” he said. “I’m glad it was the professors at NYIT who wrote on it. They were fantastic mentors, leaders and role models.”
Ed’s ambition drove him to complete his degree in three-and-a-half years. After graduating, Ed earned a law degree at SUNY Buffalo and joined the Army to put it into practice.
He has been an active member of the Judge Advocate General (JAG) Corps since 1990. “Now, 20 years later, I look back on my years at NYIT as perhaps the single most significant influence on my adult life,” he wrote in an e-mail to the college. He wanted to thank the school and the people who work here. “My professors were very talented and professional. They weren’t lecturers; they were educators, mentors and leaders. I learned to struggle; I learned to think critically; and I learned to discover. I met people from all over the world. I became the man I am today. Thank you, NYIT.”
Ed and Candy had two children, Kimberly and Joshua, before they got divorced after 23 years of marriage. Ed and his second wife, Susan, have a set of twins, Nicole and Kelsey, who are 11.
Ed’s career continues to keep him moving every few years, many times overseas, and his whole family comes with him whenever they can.
- Angela Marshall
Send feedback and story ideas to alumni@nyit.edu.
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