He received his Baccalaureate Degree in biology from Kalamazoo College and earned his PhD in anatomy from University of Illinois – Chicago. 

He moved from Dawson, Illinois to Scottsdale, Arizona in 2004. Ed spent his career educating and mentoring graduate and medical students while pursuing laboratory research on autoimmune diseases. 

Ed was a valued member of the American Association of Immunology, the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Arizona State University Emeritus College. 

His career took him from University of Texas Southwest Medical School to Southern Illinois University School of Medicine. His research was supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation as well as other funding sources. Ed retired from SIU School of Medicine as Associate Dean for Research.

He moved to Arizona where he served as Director of Research at Scottsdale Healthcare and then retired as a professor and Chair of Basic Science at A.T. Still University Osteopathic Medical School. 

Ed is survived by his beloved wife Jane; three daughters from first wife Betty, two sons; eight grandchildren; two sisters, and brother; many loving nieces, nephews and cousins; and an extensive choir of friends and chosen family. 

Memorials to remember Dr. Moticka are welcome to the Edward C. and Vivian A. Moticka Cancer Research Endowment Fund, Southern Illinois School of Medicine, Springfield, Illinois.