State Representative Ed Soliday was born and raised in Valparaiso, graduated from Valparaiso High School and attended Indiana University. He joined United Airlines as a pilot immediately after college. He took his first airplane ride at the age of ten from Urschel Field in Valparaiso and his first flying lesson at Porter County Airport at the age of 19.

Ed requested military leave from United to fly attack helicopters in the Vietnam War, where he was decorated with the Distinguished Flying Cross, two Bronze Stars and the Purple Heart.

Ed returned to his flying career at United after the war and commuted from Valparaiso for many years. Ed served his community on the Valparaiso Board of Parks and Recreation and the city Planning Commission. Ed is a former Valparaiso Lions Club member and former Rotarian. In the 1980’s Ed became president and chief operating officer of Kid’s Alive International and moved its offices from Chicago to Valparaiso. While still flying for United, Ed volunteered his time to Kids Alive for 10 years.

Shortly after advancing to Captain, United promoted Ed to Flight Manager, then Senior Staff Executive, Director of Safety and Vice President of Safety, Quality Assurance and Security. In that role Ed was responsible for United’s Flight Safety, Occupational Safety, Environmental Protection, Security and aircraft maintenance quality assurance.

Ed has served on and chaired many government, academic and industry panels. His service has been recognized by many groups to include NASA, the FAA, the FBI, and the Flight Safety Foundation. Ed received the Bendix Trophy for contributing to the development of Ground Proximity Warning System and the Laura Tabor Barbour Medal for the development of Flight Operations Quality Assurance Systems (Flight data recorder monitoring systems.) Ed was a member of the Air Line Pilot’s Association for 35 years.

Ed has testified before Congress, the Gore Commission and the 9/11 Commission. He has just completed his fifth study committee with the National Academy of Sciences, completing a ten-year review of NASA aeronautics research.

Ed currently serves on several non-profit boards of directors to include: the Adler Planetarium, Trinity International University, Emmanuel Hospital Association (USA), and the Flight Safety Foundation. He also serves as an adjunct professor at George Washington University, teaching Introduction to Safety and Security. Ed is presently employed as an aviation safety consultant.

Ed and his wife Mary of Hebron live in Valparaiso, where they raised their children, Jason and Lindsay. Jason graduated from Bradley University and Lindsay from Valparaiso University.