Edward Cluff Ashton

Edward Cluff Ashton
"Ted"

Edward (Ted) Cluff Ashton was born in Salt Lake City, Utah on July 7, 1942 to Clifford Lindsay and Myriel Cluff Ashton. He attended Dartmouth College, where he graduated with a BA in English in 1964. There he met Katherine (Kathy) Day who was a student in the Mary Hitchcock School of Nursing and whom he married in 1964. Ted returned to Salt Lake and began his career managing a small retail store, but rapidly made his way in the insurance industry, first at Travelers Insurance in Hartford, Connecticut, and eventually becoming a partner at an independent agency, Trustco, Inc., in Salt Lake. Between the time he arrived at Trustco in 1981, earning an MBA along the way from the University of Utah and a brokers license along the way, to the time that he retired as President, he helped build the company into a multi-million dollar business.

Ted spent his off hours hiking, biking, camping with his family, learning to fly, achieving multiple advanced ratings, including [ATP], and becoming a sought-after flight instructor. He lived a life of intellectual curiosity and questioned everything. He was always an avid reader and was interested in a wide range of topics, from economics to literature, from particle physics to probability theory, and from mathematics to Spanish, in which he became fluent.

Kathy and Ted celebrated their 50th anniversary on February 22nd, 2014. Ted is survived by his wife, his daughter Jennifer Ashton and her husband Walter Benn Michaels, his five sisters - Jael Reusch and her husband Greg Reusch, Julie Barrett and her husband William Barrett, Coralie Alder and her husband Bruce Alder, Deborah Ashton, and Anne Lowe and her husband Rich Lowe - his sister-in-law Susan Abbott and her husband Gary Abbott, his surrogate granddaughter Ali Buchei and many beloved nieces and nephews. A celebration of Ted's life will be held at Starks Funeral Parlor, 3561 South 900 East, Salt Lake City, on Monday, December 22 from 6 to 8pm. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made to the U of U MS Rehabilitation and Wellness Clinic, c/o Ed Gappmaier, 520 Wakara Way, Salt Lake City, Utah, 84108.