Obituary of Edward Hartnett, Jr.

Edward John Hartnett Jr. transitioned to his eternal rest on August 4, 2022 with his family by his side. Born in Boston and raised in Providence, Ed was the son of Edward and Mary Hartnett. He graduated from LaSalle Academy before attending Boston University on an Air Force ROTC scholarship. Ed was an officer in the US Air Force stationed in Maine where he met his wife Mary Kathleen Weston and they were married in 1958.

After a brief stint selling coffee for Maxwell House, Ed joined Ethicon as a suture salesman; a job that took him all over the US and launched his 36-year career with Johnson & Johnson.   Ed advanced through the medical device and consumer products businesses and in the mid-1980s was appointed Chairman of Ethicon worldwide and then Company Group Chairmen for all Johnson and Johnson medical device companies in the United States, Australia, Europe, South Africa, and South America.

Ed enjoyed time spent with family and friends in New Jersey and at his summer home in Mattapoisett, MA.  Ed was an avid reader and loved to clip articles for distribution to all who knew him. Ed was a superb storyteller and possessed an uncanny recollection of people’s names and faces. 

After retiring in 1996, Ed worked to give back to others servingas a trustee for the Francis E Parker Memorial Home, the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and Somerset Medical Center and Foundation.  In 2006 he was honored as the Humanitarian of the Year by the Diocese of Metuchen and, with Mary, received the 2014 Immanuel award from Catholic Charities.  Ed is a vested Knight in the Order of Malta, the oldest lay/religious order of the Roman Catholic Church.

Ed leaves behind his wife Mary, daughter Kathleen Jacobs and her husband Ed of Flemington, NJ, son Edward and his wife Jacqueline of Clark, NJ, son John and his wife Laura of Wellesley, MA along with ten grandchildren; Sean, Christian, Brian, Mary, William, Thomas, Julia, Maggie, Patrick and Annie and two great grandchildren; Emmeline & Maxwell.

Visiting hours will be Monday August 8, 2022 from 4:00pm- 8:00pm at Gallaway and Crane Funeral Home, 101 South Finley Avenue, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920. A memorial Mass will be celebrated on Tuesday August 9, 2022 from 11:00am-12:00pm at The Church of Saint James, 184 South Finley Avenue, Basking Ridge, NJ 07920. Interment will follow at Holy Cross Cemetery, 145 Mount Airy Road, Basking Ridge, NJ. 

Memorial donations can be made in Ed’s honor to Malteser International, 1011 First Avenue, Suite 1322, New York, NY 10022 for the victims of Ukraine. To send condolences go to www.gcfuneralhome.com.