Edward Kostyra: What Happened To Martha Stewart’s Father?

Edward Kostyra is the father of Martha Helen Kostyra known as Martha Stewart. Martha is a well-known retail businesswoman, writer, and television personality. She has been a household name for several decades now. She founded the Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia and has written various bestselling books, making her one of the best-selling authors. She is the publisher of Martha Stewart Living magazine.

Edward Kostyra: Bio Summary

Who Is The Father Of Martha Stewart?

Edward Kostyra was born on 21st August 1911, in New York, USA to Frank Kostyra and Helen Krukar Kostyra. He grew up in a working-class family. He became a teacher but later he worked as a pharmaceutical salesman. He was married to Martha (née Ruszkowski; 1914–2007). He and his wife Martha also called “Big Martha” gave birth to six children.

Their children are Frank Kostyra, Laura Plimpton, Eric Scott, Kathryn Evans, Martha Stewart, and George Christiansen. They raised their children away from the spotlight. The family moved to Nutley, New Jersey. Among Edward and Martha’s children Martha Stewart is the famous one. Edward instilled in his daughter Martha a strong work ethic.

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Edward Kostyra loved gardening, had a great passion for it and passed on much of his knowledge and expertise to his daughter Martha Stewart. His wife also thought Martha Stewart how to cook and sew. Martha has given credit to her parents for instilling in her the values of hard work, self-reliance, and resourcefulness. She has highly praised her parents for teaching her a lot.

“They were very good parents,” Martha told the Washington Post in 1994. “They never didn’t have time to explain something. That’s how I raised my daughter, Alexis, too. And that’s what I hope the American family could be and should be: busy and happy and everybody helping each other.”

According to Martha Stewart, her father Edward Kostyra constantly advised his six children. Martha said: “My dad, Edward Kostyra, was constantly offering his sage advice on any number of topics to each of his six children. I think I was the most receptive, full of avid curiosity to learn everything Dad knew and apply it to everything that interested me.“

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She added: “He recognized my enthusiasm and encouraged me by constantly saying, “You can do anything you set your mind to!” That perhaps is the most powerful thing ever said to me, and it remains with me today.“

What Happened To Martha Stewart’s Father?

Martha Stewart’s father, Edward Kostyra died in August 1979, in Nutley, Essex County, New Jersey, USA. The cause of his death is not known. His wife Martha Kostyra died on November 16, 2007, at age 93. His daughter Martha Stewart told her daytime TV audience that her mother had been hospitalized after suffering “a small stroke.”