Fiscal responsibility lost a great champion on Friday with the tragic death of Ed Lorenzen and his youngest son.
At The Concord Coalition we lost a valued colleague and cherished friend.
Our hearts go out to Ed’s family, including his two surviving children, and to our friends at the Committee For a Responsible Federal Budget where Ed worked for the past several years.
The deep sense of loss we all feel with Ed’s passing can only be mitigated, in part, by the gratitude we feel for having known him.
On the professional level, Ed was a wise counselor respected across party lines. His remarkable knowledge of the federal budget and the arcane nuances of the budget process was a constant and unerring source of guidance. Aside from his children and the 2016 Chicago Cubs, he was probably most proud of his well-earned nickname “Captain Paygo” for the passion he brought to the deficit-neutral pay-as-you-go budgeting principle.
It was on the personal level, however, where Ed left his most enduring legacy. Those of us who worked with him will remember his good humor, humility, encouragement and fellowship. And while “generational responsibility” is often invoked as an abstract standard, Ed lived it as a devoted father and caregiver for his ailing mother.
In the budget world, it is a truism that the future is uncertain. One thing, however, is not uncertain: Ed Lorenzen will be greatly missed.
