| Edwin T. Earl | |
| Birth Name: | Edwin Tobias Earl |
| Birth Date: | 30 May 1858 |
| Birth Place: | Tehama County, California |
| Death Place: | Los Angeles, California |
| Resting Place: | Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California |
| Occupation: | Publisher |
| Children: | 4 |
| Party: | Republican |
Edwin Tobias Earl (May 30, 1858 – January 2, 1919) was an American businessman, newspaper publisher and philanthropist.
Edwin T. Earl was born on a fruit ranch near Red Bluff, California on May 30, 1858.[1] His father was Joseph Earl and his mother, Adelia Chaffee.[1] [2] His brother was Guy Chaffee Earl.[1]
He started his career in the shipping of fruits.[1] By 1886, he was President of the Earl Fruit Company. In 1890, he invented the refrigerator car to transport fruits to the East Coast of the United States.[1] [2] He established the Continental Fruit Express and invested US$2,000,000 in refrigerator cars.[1] In 1901, he sold his refrigerator cars to Armour and Company of Chicago and became a millionaire.[1] [2]
In 1901, he purchased the Los Angeles Express and became its editor.[1] [3] Ten years later, in 1911, he also purchased the Los Angeles Tribune.[1]
He also invested in real estate in Los Angeles.[1]
He was a Freemason, a member of the California Club and the Jonathan Club, two private member's clubs in Los Angeles, and the Bolsa Chica Gun Club.[1] He was a member of the California Republican Party.
In 1901, he made a donation to the Pacific School of Religion in Berkeley, California to start the Earl Lectures.[2] For more than a hundred years, it has featured distinguished guest speakers like Theodore Roosevelt, Maya Angelou, Harry Emerson Fosdick and Cecil Williams.[2]
He married Emily Jarvis Earl of Louisville, Kentucky on April 30, 1902.[1] They had three sons, Jarvis, Edwin (1905–1981) and Chaffee, and one daughter, Emily.[1] They resided in Los Angeles, California.[1] He died on January 2, 1919, in Los Angeles.[1] [2]