Update: Insurance exec Ed Ray, the ‘Godfather of Pasco,’ has died
Ed Ray, a longtime insurance executive who was named Pasco’s honorary “godfather” in 2018, died Friday morning. He was 98.
The Pasco Chamber of Commerce announced his death Friday afternoon.
Ray was born and raised in Washtucna, which he once joked to a Pasco Kiwanis Club gathering counted as a “suburb of Pasco.”
He grew up on a wheat farm and sold pigs to purchase his first insurance agency in 1948 after graduating from Washington State with a degree in civil engineering.
He served in the U.S. Army before launching what would be a 62-year career in insurance.
He sold a majority of Dunning-Ray Insurance Company to Connover Insurance in 1983, after doctors advised his blood pressure was rising, he told the Tri-City Herald at the time. He was 57.
He retained some clients and continued in the business, keeping the title of senior vice president of Conover, which later sold to Hub.
Friends and colleagues remembered him as an excellent insurance agent who inspired employees to do the right thing and go to bat for their clients.
Fred Hudon credited Ray with giving him his start when he was 24 at Dunning-Ray. At 73, he’s still working for its successor, Hub.
“It’s hard to leave an industry that you love,” he said. “It was a lot of his influence that’s shaped my career.”
Fred Ackerman, another longtime colleague, said the pair had a close relationship over the decades.
“He was a great leader in the Tri-Cities,” Ackerman said.
Ray was heavily involved in a variety of civic organizations, including the Pasco Chamber of Commerce, Columbia Basin College Foundation, the Tri-Cities Development Council (TRIDEC) and The United Way.
He was a 75-year member of Pasco Kiwanis.
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He appeared regularly in the pages of the Tri-City Herald. In a notable 2010 story, he recounted his experience in a deadly train wreck in South Africa.
Ray and his partner Anne Hayden were traveling with Don and Phyllis Snuggs, also of Pasco, on a 994-mile luxury train trip when 15 cars derailed, killing four.
Ray was in the restroom at the time and remembered being thrown against the wall, which saved him from worse injuries, he said.
Hayden and Phyllis Snuggs suffered minor bruises, the account noted, before continuing the remainder of their journey.
Later the same year, Ray was honored with the Don C. Burnam Lifetime Achievement Award from the Independent Agents and Brokers of Washington, an insurance industry organization.
In 2018, he was honored as grand marshal for the Grand Old Fourth Parade in Pasco.
This story was originally published August 30, 2025 at 5:00 AM.