Edward Di Gangi was placed for adoption in 1948, early in what is known as “The Baby Scoop Era.” Having had a positive adoption experience, he made no effort to explore his heredity until, at age 69, a visit to a cemetery where members of his adoptive mother's family were buried stirred his interest.
Shortly after that visit, Ed embarked upon a search to learn the identity of his birth mother. His journey ultimately led to reunion with numerous biological relatives, both maternal and paternal. Sadly, he discovered that Genevieve, his birth mother, had passed three years prior to his beginning to search.
Ed's meticulous research has yielded two books. The Gift Best Given: A Memoir, the story of his search, published in May of 2020, and Gliding Through Goodbye, a recreation of his birth mother’s diary in the years after placing him for adoption, published in June of 2025.
Ed and his wife, Linda, live in Hillsborough, North Carolina. Their son, James, and his wife, Renee, and their daughter, Emery, live in nearby Durham.