E. F. Hutton

Edward Francis Hutton was born September 7, 1875, in Manhattan, New York City, to James Laws Hutton and Frances Elouise Hulse Hutton. His father died when Edward was ten, leaving the family in reduced circumstances. Edward left school young, working in a securities mailroom while taking night classes. His ambition and quick grasp of finance earned him notice.

Through his uncle Franklyn Harris he entered Harris, Hutton & Company in Cincinnati and by twenty had become a partner. Within a few years he persuaded Harris to open a Manhattan branch with him at its head.

Blanche Horton Hutton

On October 9, 1900, Edward married Blanche Conant Horton, daughter of banker Henry Lawrence Horton. They had a son, Halcourt Horton Hutton, born in 1902.

In 1904 Edward and his brother Franklyn Laws Hutton formally founded E. F. Hutton & Company. It grew into one of the most respected brokerage houses in the United States, known for its retail network and wide reach in finance.

Blanche died in 1917. In 1920 Halcourt died in a riding accident at age eighteen.

Halcourt Hutton

In 1920 Edward married Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress to the Postum Cereal Company. Edward shifted focus from brokerage to help grow Postum. He became chairman and engineered major acquisitions: Jell-O, Baker’s Chocolate, Maxwell House, and Clarence Birdseye’s frozen food company. In 1929 the company was renamed General Foods. During this marriage the couple created and owned several grand properties and yachts. They built Hillwood on Long Island, Hogarcito in Palm Beach, and most famously Mar-a-Lago in Palm Beach.

Edward commissioned a line of yachts named Hussar, culminating in Hussar V, a 316-foot four-masted barque later renamed Sea Cloud. Marjorie and Edward’s daughter Nedenia Marjorie “Dina” Hutton (later actress Dina Merrill) was born December 29, 1923. The marriage deteriorated and they divorced in 1935. Marjorie retained Mar-a-Lago and other properties.

Marjorie Merriweather Post

In February 1936 Edward married Dorothy Dear Metzger. He moved his home life to Old Westbury on Long Island, where the couple lived at an estate known as Hutfield. After stepping away from the food business following his 1935 divorce, he concentrated again on Wall Street. Within E. F. Hutton & Co. he took the role often described as a special partner and elder statesman, advising on strategy and clients while others handled daily operations.

During these years he also became a public advocate for free enterprise. He wrote a regular column titled “Think It Through,” published on Saturdays in the New York Herald Tribune and syndicated widely around the country. He paid for and placed full-page opinion advertisements that criticized heavy regulation and deficit spending, arguing for business confidence and private initiative. He kept up his club affiliations and yachting interests, but his biggest yacht, the four-masted barque Hussar V, had already passed out of his life after the 1935 divorce and became famous as Sea Cloud under Marjorie’s ownership.

Dorothy Dear Metzger

Through the 1940s and 1950s he remained identified with E. F. Hutton & Co., lending his name and relationships to the firm as it expanded its national brokerage network. Socially he and Dorothy divided their time between Long Island and seasonal stays in Florida and at resort communities.

At Old Westbury he hosted business associates and friends and maintained the grounds of Hutfield to high standard, a reflection of his lifelong interest in country living and field sports.

By the late 1950s he was less visible in day-to-day finance but still writing, speaking, and advising. He was in declining health in the early 1960s and died after a long illness on July 11, 1962, at Old Westbury, age eighty-six. He was buried at Locust Valley Cemetery, Addition 2, Lot 136. The grave remained unmarked for years. His daughter Dina Merrill later saw to the installation of a marker. The inscription reads “Brilliant Innovator, Loving Father,”.

The Grave of E. F. Hutton

Dina At her Fathers Grave

His will was probated the following year. The estate was valued at roughly three million eight hundred thousand dollars. He left his daughter Dina Merrill a specific bequest of twenty-five thousand dollars, noting that she was already amply provided for. The principal share went to his widow, Dorothy, with provisions that also recognized his stepdaughter, Nancy Joan Metzger. After his death Dorothy sold the Old Westbury place to Long Island University, which adapted the property for campus use.