Edward William Oliva, age 91, aka “The Candy Man”, passed away at his home in Dowling Park, Fla., on Dec. 2, 2020 with his daughter at his side.
Edward Oliva was born on Nov. 26, 1929 in Passaic, NJ to the late Joseph and Marie Oliva. He lived in East Patterson, NJ until he was married and slowly made his way over the years to Florida.
Edward was married to Joan Ann Wilson on May 1, 1954. He was a postal worker for a while, but his dream was to be a pilot. He was always very mechanical and was always finding ways to make things work easier and smarter. He started off by fueling planes at the Teterboro Airport in New Jersey, and worked his way up to being an aircraft mechanic. Later Oliva became a corporate pilot for some very interesting people, flying them all over the world to many foreign countries. He flew for the Laurance Rockefeller family and even named his son after him, as he respected him so much. He also flew for National Distillers, Collier Cobb and the Teamsters Union. When he retired from flying for the Teamsters Union he then became an Aviation Accident Investigator for the FAA. During that time in 1990, he lost his wife of 36 years to breast cancer and has been a widower ever since. When he made his final retirement from the FAA, he became a computer whiz. He taught himself how to do everything on a computer, like making movies, calendars, videos and all sorts of wonderful things and shared them with his community. He was best known as the “candy man”, as everywhere he went he had wrappers that would wrap around candy bars and crackers with all sorts of wonderful sayings.
He loved his backyard with the water feature he installed, bird feeders, bird nests, humming bird plants and somehow figured out that birds LOVE honey roasted peanuts crushed! He was always tinkering around his home figuring out ways to improve on how to do things quicker and more efficiently. He also was a huge help when his daughter and son-in-law built a log home (just the two of them) in White Springs. They were only able to work on it on long weekends and holidays so it took about seven years to complete. He took care of the property while they were gone and helped document the build. He even put a zip line up for them while they were gone!
He was the most giving, caring and thoughtful man and would help anyone who needed assistance. We will miss his wry sense of humor, as well. He is preceded in death by Joan Ann Wilson (wife), Laurance Edward Oliva (son), and Roy Oliva (brother). He is survived by Nancy Hagey; daughter and husband Joe Hagey of White Springs and granddaughter Tammy Feldstein and great granddaughter Katerina Feldstein of Mansfield, Texas. A Celebration of Life will be held sometime in 2021, after the pandemic is more under control.
“Dad, your wings were ready, but my heart was not.”
In lieu of flowers, contributions may be made to the Florida Sheriff’s Youth Ranch at PO Box 2000, Boys Ranch, FL 32064