Raised a Lutheran, Ed came to the Episcopal Church during his undergraduate years upon meeting the vicar of his neighborhood Episcopal mission in Queens, NY. The vicar, the Rev. Leo Malania, was serving then as coordinator of the Prayer Book Revision Committee.
Ed resided at ETS in 1971-73 as a Harvard architectural graduate student. While there he collaborated with Prof. Lloyd Patterson on the History and Guide to St. John’s Chapel and drew campus sketches often used on EDS publications. Upon opening his practice in 1981, he assisted the school with a campus energy study and conversion of single-family faculty houses into married student and faculty apartments.
As principal of Nilsson + Siden Associates, architects, he also serves on Marblehead’s Planning Board and Historical Commission. Ed received a B.Arch. from The Cooper Union, M.Arch. from Harvard University Graduate School of Design, and MBA from Babson College. Ed is a parishioner at St. Michael’s Church (1714), Marblehead, MA. He is married to Frances Stith Nilsson, retired librarian, and current parish historian. They have two sons, Anders, and Peter, with three grandchildren.