Former Bellaire Mayor Ed Marling died Monday night, he was 81.

BELLAIRE – Ed Marling, who spent nearly a quarter-century serving Belmont County communities in various elected roles, died Monday evening at age 81.

Marling had retired in December after 24 years in leadership. Before his four-year term as Bellaire mayor, he also served as Shadyside’s mayor as well as a Shadyside councilman.

Bellaire Council president Janet Richardson said that Marling had an open door policy that allowed anyone to come in and speak to him at any time about any types of issues or problems that needed resolving.

“I think that’s an important thing to note about how he always returned phone calls and never let anyone feel like they weren’t important,” Richardson said. “Anyone who talked to him, no matter how big or small the problem was, he addressed it.”

Marling would drive his personal truck to people’s houses that didn’t have transportation and pick up items they needed to discard during the village’s annual clean up day with JB Green Team, Richardson said.

“He just had a very big heart. His heart was in the right place and that was for the people of Bellaire,” she said. “He was a good man. His heart was with Bellaire. I mean, you’ve got this man that’s in his 80s and you’d find him out on call in the middle of the night when there was a water break or other problems.”

She added that Marling was the driving force behind the village having a Christmas tree. In 2023, Marling noticed that Bellaire didn’t have a tree or a light-up night and thought the village needed one.

He was heavily involved in community events with council member Bill Schmitt and R.L. Strength and Conditioning owner/operator Rick Leigh.

The trio organized various events such as the James D. Watts Sr. Classic and Summer Bash.

Marling mentored both Leigh and Schmitt, Schmitt said.

“He kind of took me under his wing and taught me a lot of things. He’s a special person that would always help Rick and I when it came to doing community events and essentially the community events are what we really need right now. This definitely hurts,” Schmitt said. “Mayor Marling is what I will always remember him by and address him as. He really cared about Bellaire and I was proud to work with him and call him friend.

“This loss hurts and my heart goes out to his family at this time,” he added. “We lost an incredible leader who always put Bellaire first and worked well with council. He was a team player.”

Leigh added that he grew to consider Marling and his wife Sandy as family.

“His wife and him were at several trainings, especially when we first got established. He wanted to make sure that we were treated right and that things went well for us and that we were settled in,” Leigh said. “Man, he and his wife are amazing. They came to all of our events and he came and talked to the youth and was a great mentor to the youth. And I even looked up to him, I respected him as a man.”

Leigh also looked up to Marling for his dedication to his marriage.

“He and his wife have loved each other and been dedicated to each other and I look up to that with my relationship because my wife [Keshauna Leigh] and I are really close,” he said. “And the fact that he and his wife were close and been together for all these years, it inspired me,

“Him dying man, it hurts my heart,” Leigh added, “because he was a mentor to me, too. He treated our program and my wife and I like family.”

Another person who considered Marling to be a mentor is current Bellaire Mayor Robert Dodrill.

“Before I actually got elected for the position, he showed me the ropes. I got to sit in with him on things, and he was a great mentor,” Dodrill said. “He was like a father figure to me over the years and a great friend. He will be deeply missed and it’s just a terrible loss. My heart goes out to all of his family and friends.”

Dodrill added that in honor of Marling’s death, he lowered all of the village’s flags to half-staff.