Dr. Ed Stein passed away Friday October 5th after battling Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis the past 8 months. Ed graduated from Palmer College of Chiropractic 1965 & was president of his graduating class. After practicing a short while in Colorado he moved to Seattle, Washington. His initial interest in Washington was to pursue the Pettibone work, at that time Dr. Burl Pettibone lived & practiced in Tacoma, Washington.
He initially set up practice in the north suburbs of Seattle eventually moving south to Kent Washington where he built a commercial building for his practice. It was during this time that he was encouraged by a friend Dr. Carl Jelstrup to travel to Canada to be adjusted by a NUCCA practitioner. He first developed his interest in Upper Cervical Chiropractic and specifically the NUCCA work after experiencing the effects of an ASC adjustment from Dr. A.A. Berti of Vancouver, B.C. This experience lead Ed to a profound paradigm shift in his perception of his profession and lead to a change in the way he was to practice for the rest of his professional life.
Dr Stein was board certified as a NUCCA instructor by Dr.Ralph Gregory in May of 1986. He served on the NUCCA board of directors 1980-1996 & NUCCRA board of Directors from 1990- 1996. During this time he was one of the senior instructors at the NUCCA programs & he also assisted Dr. Berti in instructing a smaller Northwest group. Dr. Stein was responsible for introducing Mike Peru to both the NUCCA work & Dr. Berti, a collaboration that was to result in the development of the Boon frame. Working closely with Dr. Berti, Dr. Stein developed a refinement of the mastoid headpiece that increased the width of the A headpiece & also altered the cushioning thus becoming what is known to this day as the Stein headpiece.
Dr. Stein dedicated the last 10 years to assisting Dr. Berti in working with the doctors in the Northwest group. He served as part of the Northwest Research Group participating in design and implementation of a number of studies.
Dr. Stein is survived by his wife Louise, sister Mary Ann Andries, brother David Stein Ph.D. and stepchildren Michael Warzenski, Susan Smith and two grandchildren.
All of us privileged to know Ed will remember him as an extremely bright man with a fascinating blend of humbleness & childlike sense of humor. He truly enjoyed people and always held in the highest respect the commitment to technical excellence demanded by this work. With all that this entailed he embraced this work always crediting the inspiration to his mentor, teacher & close friend Dr. A.A. Berti.
A Memorial & Celebration of Ed’s life will be at the Kent Senior Center, 600 E. Smith St. Kent, WA. on October the 19th from 2-4 P.M. any flowers and cards should be sent to Louise Stein at 24616 147th Ave S.E. Kent WA. 98042.
(Submitted by Lee G. Yardley D.C.)