Ed Foley, 85; educator, father of disgraced Florida congressman

Ed Foley, 85, a longtime educator and father of former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.), died Tuesday at the Hospice of Palm Beach County in West Palm Beach, Fla. He had been ill with cancer since 2003.

A native of Newton, Mass., Edward Foley served in the Marines during World War II and fought at Guadalcanal in the Solomon Islands.

He moved to Florida in the 1950s and was a biology and geography teacher and later a principal who often campaigned for his son.

The younger Foley gained national attention this fall when, in the waning weeks of his campaign for reelection, the congressman was confronted with sexually explicit messages he had sent to teenage pages who worked on Capitol Hill.

Mark Foley resigned Sept. 29. State and federal authorities are investigating whether he broke any laws.

Mark Foley had abandoned a campaign for the U.S. Senate in 2003 after his father was diagnosed with cancer. His decision to bow out of that race also came shortly after an alternative newspaper reported that he was gay. At the time, Foley denounced the allegations as rumors spread by his political opponents and refused to answer questions about whether he was homosexual.

He has been in a treatment center in Arizona for alcoholism since Oct. 1, according to his attorneys, but was scheduled to return to Florida for his father’s funeral Saturday.