Edwin D. Morgan (businessman)

Edwin Denison "Eddie" Morgan III (February 16, 1921 – June 28, 2001) was an American businessman and Pioneer Fund director from 2000 to 2001.[1]

Edwin D. Morgan
Born	Edwin Denison Morgan III February 16, 1921
Died	June 28, 2001 (aged 80) New York City, US
Occupation	Businessman
Known for	Director of the Pioneer Fund
Parent(s)	Edwin D. Morgan Jr. (1890-1954), Elizabeth Winthrop(Emmet) Morgan (18971-1934)
Relatives	C. Temple Emmet (grandfather) John W. Chanler (great-grandfather) Edwin D. Morgan III (grandfather) Edwin D. Morgan (2x great-grandfather)

Early life

Mrs. Edwin D. Morgan Jr., by William Bruce Ellis Ranken

Morgan was born on February 16, 1921 in New York City. His parents were Edwin D. Morgan Jr. (1890–1954) and Elizabeth Winthrop (née Emmet) Morgan (1897–1934).[2] His younger brother was Temple Emmet Morgan (1922–2008), who became a monk at Saint Benedict Center in Harvard, Massachusetts.[3] After his mother's death in February 1934, his father remarried to Fanny Taylor Baldwin Preston in July 1934.[4]

His maternal grandparents were Christopher Temple Emmet and Alida Beekman (née Chanler) Emmet, the daughter of John Winthrop Chanler, a U.S. Representative from New York, and Margaret Astor (née Ward) Chanler of the prominent Astor family of New York.[5] His paternal grandparents were Edwin Denison Morgan Sr., a noted yachtsman and horseman, and Elizabeth Sarah (née Archer) Morgan. Morgan's 2x-great grandfather was Edwin D. Morgan, who served as the 21st Governor of New York, a U.S. Senator, and was the longest-serving chairman of the Republican National Committee.[6]

Career

Immediately after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Morgan enlisted in the Marine Corps and his 1st Marine Division participated in the Guadalcanal, New Guinea, New Britain and Peleliu battles in August 1942. Subsequently, he fought in the battles of eastern New Guinea, New Britain and Peleliu, rising to the rank of sergeant.[7]

Post-war career

After the war, he briefly worked for the New York Herald Tribune in New York and the Marshall Plan in Europe. He did not attend college, however, he became an authority on the military and political history of the battle of Guadalcanal.[7]

In 1954, while living in Paris, Morgan founded of Overseas Credit, Inc., which financed cars across Europe for U.S. military personnel and Marshall Plan employees. From this, he became a friend and adviser to many American writers and editors who gravitated to Paris. He was a well-known figure in the expatriate American literary community in Paris in the 1950s and 1960s, allowing Peter Matthiessen, Harold Humes, and George Plimpton to run The Paris Review, a literary magazine founded in 1953, at his company office. He was a friend of writers James Jones, James Baldwin, William Styron, Irwin Shaw and William Saroyan.[7]

Morgan later founded Holographics, Inc., which developed useful laser technologies.[8]

Personal life

Morgan's father and mother on an open-air 'veranda' on the stern of their steam yacht likely May, 1899

In 1949, Morgan married Nancy Marie Whitney (1926–2006), the daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney and Marie Norton Harriman (the second wife of New York governor W. Averell Harriman).[9] Her paternal grandparents were Harry Payne Whitney and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, an artist and the founder of the Whitney Museum in New York City. Before their divorce, Edwin and Nancy were the parents of two children:[10]

• Alida Morgan
• Pamela Morgan

After their divorce, Nancy married Charles Russell Hurd on August 26, 1957.[11] Within a year, she was divorced from Hurd and married to his older brother, Edward Augustus Hurd Jr., on July 1, 1958.[12] She later married well known water colorist Pierre Lutz.[10] Morgan later married Jacqueline (née Jesseris) Johnson,[13] the former wife of Murdock Porter Johnson Jr.,[14] which also ended in divorce.[7]

Morgan died of cancer on June 28, 2001 in New York City.[7]

See also

• Pioneer Fund

References

1. "The Founders". Archived from the original on November 30, 2012. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
2. "MRS. E. D. MORGAN OF WESTBURY DIES; Descendant of Thormas Emmet, Irish Patriot, and First John Jacob Astor, WAS A PORTRAIT PAINTER Her Work Was Exhibited in a Gallery Here – She Was a Member of Colony Club" (PDF). The New York Times. February 9, 1934. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
3. "Paid Notice: Deaths MORGAN, TEMPLE EMMET". The New York Times. January 9, 2009. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
4. "E. D. MORGAN WEDS MRS. F.T. PRESTON; Bride of Stock Broker Is a Daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Joseph C. Baldwin. WEDDING HERE ON JULY 11 Bridegroom Is a Descendant of One of New York's Civil War Governors" (PDF). The New York Times. July 25, 1934. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
5. "C. Temple Emmet, Skier, lawyer, 89" (PDF). The New York Times. July 25, 1957. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
6. Eicher, John H., and David J. Eicher, Civil War High Commands. Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2001. ISBN 0-8047-3641-3. p. 397
7. Staff (July 3, 2001). "Edwin D. Morgan, 80, Businessman Who Befriended Writers in Paris". The New York Times. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
8. "Edwin D. Morgan Death Notice", The New York Times, July 8, 2001
9. "Quiet Whitney Wedding" (PDF). The New York Times. March 2, 1923. Retrieved February 17, 2015.
10. "Deaths LUTZ, NANCY WHITNEY". The New York Times. October 30, 2006. Retrieved March 26, 2016.
11. "MRS. MORGAN MARRIED; Daughter of Mrs. Harriman Wed to C. Russell Hurd" (PDF). The New York Times. August 28, 1957. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
12. "Wedding Is Held For Mrs. Morgan And E. A. Hurd Jr.; Daughter of Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Married in Illinois" (PDF). The New York Times. July 2, 1958. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
13. "RECENTLY WED". Boston Globe. June 16, 1946. Retrieved September 4, 2019.
14. "Wedding Held for Jody Johnson" (PDF). The New York Times. December 4, 1974. Retrieved September 4, 2019.

External links

• Edwin D. Morgan at Find a Grave