Former NPC Governor Ed Prina dies; Visitation Monday evening

Former NPC Governor L. Edgar "Ed" Prina, 94, a prize-winning journalist and a Navy veteran of two wars, died May 14 in Washington, D.C.

Prina, a Golden Owl who joined the Club on Dec. 1, 1948, served in the U.S. Navy in World War II and the Korean War, retiring as a captain in the U.S. Navy Reserves. He held two degrees from Syracuse University and worked for the Copley News Service, where he covered the Pentagon. An article he wrote in which Navy Secretary John Lehman told him the agency was bloated with bureaucrats received national attention and raised the ire of Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger.

1988 NPC President Lee Roderick, who opened a Washington bureau for Scripps League Newspapers, got to know Prina when he rented space from Copley in the National Press Building in 1976.

"Ed Prina was one of several Copley staffers who went out of their way to show me how the media work in Washington," Roderick said. "He was a savvy, gracious man---passionate about the military, in which he had previously served for many years. Today, in an era when too much of the media have become overly partisan, Ed is a good reminder of what good journalism was and can be."

When Prina served as Speakers Committee chair in 1989, the Club hosted Lech Walesa, Jacques Cousteau, and mime Marcel Marceau,1989 NPC President Peter Holmes recalled.

"Ed's Rolodex had few rivals," Holmes said. "His charm and wit were known widely, and his news sense was without parallel."

He is survived by Lee Lorick Prina, his wife of 66 years, a daughter, Lee "Lee-Lee" L. Prina, and other friends and relatives.

Friends may call today, May 20, 6 p.m. to 8 p.m., at DeVol Funeral Home, 2222 Wisconsin Ave., NW (parking opposite at 2233 Wisconsin).

A Mass of Christian Burial is Tuesday, May 21, 11 a.m., at Annunciation Church, 3810 Massachusetts Ave., NW, followed by a reception in the Commons meeting room at Grand Oaks, an assisted living home at 5901 MacArthur Blvd., NW, Washington.