Community gives a jovial, heartfelt goodbye to retiring chamber head

More than 100 people turned out Wednesday to celebrate Ed Fawcett, who recently retired after heading the Costa Mesa Chamber of Commerce for 23 years.

The luncheon at the Mesa Verde Country Club was lighthearted and occasionally irreverent. Friendly gibes at Fawcett, who officially retired Dec. 31 as chamber president and CEO but has been retained as an advisor, added to the mounds of praise for his years of helping Costa Mesa’s business, educational and political communities, often from behind the scenes.

His tenure included raising scholarship money for local students, advocating for businesses, feeding families in the city’s Westside and even “planting trees and pulling weeds,” as he put it.

“Ed always had this bigger picture of Costa Mesa,” said Tom Johnson, a past chamber president and former Daily Pilot publisher.

Fawcett, 66, joined the chamber in 1992 after years of managing various Costa Mesa hotels. He was credited with immediately bringing the organization out of debt and then keeping it solvent.

In an interview in January, Fawcett said he plans to sell his Tustin home and relocate to Prescott, Ariz., to pursue his passion for pre-Columbian American history.

Johnson praised Fawcett’s work ethic, saying he didn’t join the chamber just to “keep the seat warm.”

Former City Manager Allan Roeder described Fawcett’s transition from the hospitality industry to the “un-hospitality industry” of working with government. In a video tribute, Roeder chided that Fawcett went around “cleaning up messes.”

“It’s time to take a shower, buddy,” Roeder said.

Others remarked that Fawcett’s mustache “out-mustaches Chuck Norris’ mustache” and that the former chamber leader was a “minister of fun” known to enjoy red wine and single-malt scotch.

Calling him a “tough guy with a big heart,” Mayor Steve Mensinger compared Fawcett to other Costa Mesa luminaries, like South Coast Plaza founder Henry Segerstrom and real estate billionaire George Argyros.

“Ed has been nothing but a consummate giver,” added Newport Beach Councilman Tony Petros, a former chamber president. “This is the man who helped mold this city.”

Kyle Woosley, the new chamber president and CEO, joked that he officially took the position in January but that four months later, Fawcett still hasn’t moved out of his office.

“I’m still in the cubicle,” Woosley said.

He soon added: “I mean this in the nicest possible way: I hope that I’m half the man you are.”

In his brief remarks, a quiet Fawcett thanked his supporters and friends through the years.

“I learned to serve,” he said. “I came to Costa Mesa and I served.”