24 MONTEREY COUNTY WEEKLY MAY 15-21, 2025 www.montereycountynow.com diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, which, while it may have forced him to slow down in business, allowed him to focus on philanthropy, Jim said. Over the years, Dowd funded various projects, including the art history building at Santa Clara University, the entry pavilion at Palo Alto University’s Mountain View campus, and a refurbishment of the mental health unit building and courtyard at Natividad in Salinas, made in honor of his mother Nora who was a longtime nurse there. He also established the Edward M. Dowd Advocacy Program with the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, which provides support to people living with the disease, such as helping to fund retrofits to their homes and providing caregiving and other services. Dowd died at his home in San Francisco on Feb. 27, 2022. In his obituary, his brothers, life companion, nieces, nephews, and great-nieces and -nephews are listed as his survivors. He had no children—at least none that he reportedly knew of at the time of his passing. In August 2022, Andrew Koch spit into a tube provided to him by Ancestry.com. Billed as the world’s largest genealogy website, Ancestry provides a DNA kit for purchase, where those interested in learning their family tree can submit a saliva sample to the company, which then enters the DNA into its massive database to find a match. As part of its process, Ancestry tests for the genetic units of centimorgans, which measure the probability that two people are related. Generally, the more centimorgans two people share, the closer they are related, according to Ancestry. A couple of months later, Ancestry notified Koch that he shared 3,484 centimorgans with Ed Dowd (as his name was listed in the database), according to a copy of the letter filed in San Francisco County Superior Court. As a result, there is a “100 percent” chance that Dowd is his father, the letter stated. On March 17, 2023, Koch, through his San Jose-based attorneys, filed a case in San Francisco County Superior Court, seeking “all of the assets” from Dowd’s trust. The exact number is not known—Koch could not be reached for this article, and his attorneys did not respond to multiple requests for comment—but according to Dowd’s 1997 trust, included in the court documents, at least $8 million was meant to be distributed among family and friends at the time of his death. After the distributions were made, the balance of the estate would go to the Edward M. Dowd Foundation. During this time, the foundation was ramping up its operations. According to financial documents filed with the Internal Revenue Service, it had begun making donations to various organizations over the past couple of years, including the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, Food Bank for Monterey County, Meals on Wheels of the Salinas Valley and others. For its first paid employee, the foundation hired Susie Brusa in early 2023 as its executive director. She left a role as U.S. Rep. Jimmy Panetta’s district director, but her stint was short-lived as the court case came to light. (Brusa declined to comment for this article.) In a court filing, Koch’s attorneys point to a section of the state probate code that refers to children omitted from a will. Citing the 2020 court case Rallo v. O’Brian, the filing contends that the “statute carves out a distribution right for unknown children only if they can prove the only reason the decedent did not provide for them was because the decedent did not know they existed.” “Here, at the time of his death. Decedent [Dowd] was unaware that Petitioner [Koch] was his son,” the filing reads. “Decedent stated that he ‘has no children, living or deceased.’ Clearly, as stated by Decedent in his own Trust, he was unaware that Petitioner was his son and did not know that he had any children. “Moreover, if Decedent was aware of Petitioner’s existence, he would have provided for Petitioner in the Trust.” Dowd was aware of Koch’s existence—just not his relationship to him. According to the court documents, Dowd and Koch’s mother, Joan Bell, were in a “long-term romantic relationship,” who dated “off and on,” beginning in 1987. “Decedent knew that the Petitioner was Ms. Bell’s son, but had no idea that he was also Petitioner’s father,” the filing states. Koch was born on May 2, 1991 at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. He lived in Livermore at the time of the 2023 court filing. Dowd and Bell considered marrying, but when he was asked to disclose his financial assets in a prenuptial agreement, he backed away and never married anyone, according to court documents. “Decedent was extremely secretive and private about his financial affairs and did not feel comfortable in disclosing his assets as part of a prenuptial agreement,” the filing states. Without naming names, Dowd’s brother Jim noted during the May The life and times of Edward Dowd SEPT. 13, 1945 Edward Dowd is born in San Francisco to Thomas and Nora Dowd. 1952 The Dowd family moves to Salinas. 1963 Edward Dowd graduates from Palma High School. 1965-1969 Dowd serves in the United States Air Force before being honorably discharged as a sergeant. 1972 Dowd graduates from Santa Clara University with a bachelor’s degree in commerce. 1976 Dowd begins his real estate investment career at Marcus & Millichap in Palo Alto. 1981 Dowd forms EMD Properties Inc., along with San Jose National Bank and Commerce Savings and Loan in Sacramento. 1984 California Gov. Jerry Brown appoints Dowd to the California State Athletic Commission and vice chair, representing the state at the Summer Olympics that year. MAY 2, 1991 Andrew Koch is born at Dominican Hospital in Santa Cruz. 1993 At age 47, Dowd is diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, setting off his philanthropic endeavors. Palma School students crowd into the gym’s new foyer, where a timeline of Edward Dowd’s life is prominently displayed and the trophies the school’s sports teams have won over the years are exhibited. Edward Dowd, pictured in an undated photo, shifted his focus to philanthropy after being diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1993. LIFE continued next page DANIEL DREIFUSS COURTESY OF EDWARD M. DOWD FOUNDATION
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