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Obituary for Edmund Lawrence Brunini, Jr.
EDMUND LAWRENCE BRUNINI, JR. April 21, 1944– August 31, 2021
Edmund L. Brunini, Jr., of Madison, Mississippi, passed away on August 31, 2021 with Barbara, his loving wife of 53 years, steadfastly by his side. A visitation for Eddie will be held at St. Richard’s Catholic Church on Friday, September 10 at 10 a.m., with a memorial service to celebrate his 77 years of life to follow at 11 a.m. Ed, or Eddie as he was known to many, was born on April 21, 1944 in Vicksburg, Mississippi to parents Ed Brunini, Sr. and Mary Brunini. Growing up in Vicksburg, Eddie attended St. Aloysius school. After his family relocated to Jackson in 1959, Eddie played basketball at St. Joseph High School where Barbara Lane Ledbetter first caught his eye. Eddie graduated from St. Joseph High School in 1962 and followed in the footsteps of his father and his uncles, attending Georgetown University until graduating there in 1966. Returning to Mississippi, Eddie attended law school at the University of Mississippi where Barbara, then a junior and Feature Twirler, twirled her way into his heart. The two were married on August 24, 1968 and remained married for more than 53 years until the time of Eddie’s passing. Eddie began his legal career in Jackson with the law firm of Brunini, Grantham, Grower & Hewes in 1969. Eddie’s legal career spanned more than 45 years and included a diverse litigation and regulatory practice. In the early part of his legal career, Eddie had to navigate learning to practice law in the large shadow cast by his highly accomplished and well-respected father, Ed Sr. (known simply as “Mister Ed” to many). Eddie did so with a unique style that included charisma, charm and humor, but was also underpinned by terrific legal instincts, intelligence and devotion to his clients. For more than a decade, Eddie’s practice focused on serving clients in the oil and gas industry in Mississippi. Years later, as major petroleum producers began exiting the State, Eddie’s practice transitioned. As the demand for oil and gas legal services declined, the business of healthcare – and the accompanying heightened regulatory oversight – blossomed. For years, Eddie had already served the Dominican Sisters of Springfield, Illinois by providing them counsel in support of their mission at St. Dominic’s Hospital in Jackson. When their need for legal services increased, Eddie transitioned his practice to meet that need. By the end of his career, Eddie had relocated his office to St. Dominic’s Hospital to provide the legal resources needed to meet their growing mission. Up to the day he passed away, Eddie maintained strong personal relationships with the leaders of St. Dominic’s with whom he had worked on a daily basis. In addition to these practice areas, Eddie also served a wide array of other clients in various industries, including manufacturing, healthcare, general business, and even local government. Over the span of decades, Eddie’s impressive client list included many well-respected companies, including Chevron, Shell Oil, Phillips Coal, Dupont, and the Madison County Board of Supervisors, having served as Board attorney from 2004 through 2008. Eddie was actively involved in the civic, professional and political affairs of Mississippi, having served in a leadership role in numerous organizations, including the American Red Cross, the United Way, Mississippi Blood Services, the University Club, the Capital Club, the Country Club of Jackson and Annandale Golf Club. He is a past Chairman of the Board of the Metro Jackson Chamber of Commerce and served on the Boards of Directors of several publicly owned corporations. Eddie also served as Chairman of Governor Haley Barbour’s 30-member Judicial Appointment Advisory Committee. Eddie was an avid outdoorsmen, hunter, and fisherman. Eddie owned property on Lake Chotard, near Vicksburg, since the early 1970s and dearly loved to spend his weekends there trying to squeeze far too much work and recreation into a forty-eight hour period. Never afraid to tackle a new challenge, Eddie even bought a small farm in Madison County in the 1980s where he built a terrific fishing lake and tried – without much success – to raise cattle. After learning from that misadventure, Eddie focused his efforts on obtaining more hunting and recreational property in the Mississippi Delta. While Eddie was a little too impatient to sit on a deer stand for hours, he absolutely loved duck hunting. Not one for rising before dawn, Eddie could be counted upon to show up an hour or two after daylight for what he often referred to as the more gentlemanly “mid-morning flight.” After finally giving up on the game of basketball in his mid-40s, he focused his athletic activities on golf. Eddie’s affinity for golf spawned an annual tradition at the Brunini Law Firm. According to Eddie, as a young lawyer in the mid-1970s, he began sneaking out of the office before lunch on Good Friday to play golf, but doing so under the guise of going to Mass. One such Good Friday, Eddie hit a hole in one at the Jackson Country Club. In those days, the Clarion Ledger published notice of all holes in one made in the metro area. Eddie’s father and other members of the firm saw the notice and, after a good scolding, decided that an annual Firm Good Friday Golf Tournament would be a great idea. The tradition was born and lives on to this day. Shortly before his retirement, Eddie began losing his eyesight to glaucoma. Within just a few years of retirement, Eddie could no longer play golf or hunt or fish. Nevertheless, Eddie would, as often as he could, ride to Lake Chotard with his friend Willie, or Barbara, or one of his kids, or just about anyone who would take him. Eddie’s lack of vision prevented him from fully enjoying sports in person, but he could adjust his chair close to the television and with the help of play-by-play announcers, enjoy watching (or maybe mostly listening) to ball games. Eddie loved to watch almost all football, but was a loyal New Orleans Saints fan and would religiously watch all of their games. He often complained that football games only aired once or twice a week and he needed more entertainment than that. As his vision diminished after retirement and his outlets for entertainment became more and more limited, his love of Los Angeles Dodger baseball was rekindled. Eddie would often tell his family stories of growing up in Vicksburg with a transistor radio, listening to Brooklyn – and later Los Angeles – Dodgers broadcasts. During his final years, from April through October, Eddie could regularly be found watching Dodger baseball and finally enjoying, after a 32 year hiatus, a Dodger baseball World Series Championship in 2020. His love for the Dodgers infected his kids early on and that family tradition will last for generations. Eddie is survived by his loyal and caring wife, Barbara, and their three children Tony (Christianne) of Ridgeland, Johnny (Angela) of Madison, and Emily (Billy Petersen) of Falls Church, Virginia. Eddie is also survived by ten grandchildren: Anna Katherine Brunini, Brockman Brunini, Alex Brunini, Elliott Brunini, Wylie Petersen, William Brunini, Adeline Lark Brunini, Jack Brunini, Lane Petersen and Maren Petersen. In lieu of flowers, Eddie requests that a memorial be made t to St. Dominic’s Health Services, Inc..
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