Edward Francis Hutton
- Bobby Kelley
- May 14
- 4 min read
Edward Francis Hutton was born September 7, 1875, in Manhattan, New York, the son of James Laws Hutton and Frances Eloise Hulse Hutton. His father died when he was still a child, leaving the family in reduced financial circumstances and requiring him at an early age to begin supporting himself. The discipline and determination formed during those years became defining traits throughout his later career.
As a teenager, Hutton entered the financial world at the lowest level, working first as an office and mailroom clerk while studying business subjects at night. His rise in finance was not inherited but earned through experience, persistence, and an instinctive understanding of markets and communication. Through family connections he joined Harris, Hutton and Company, a brokerage concern associated with the Consolidated Stock Exchange, where he advanced rapidly and became a partner while still a young man.
Recognizing the greater opportunities available through New York Stock Exchange brokerage operations, Hutton eventually left to pursue his own firm. In 1904, with his brother Franklyn Laws Hutton, he founded E. F. Hutton and Company in New York City. From its beginning, the firm emphasized speed, communication, and nationwide market access. Hutton invested heavily in private wire systems and long-distance communications linking financial centers across the country, allowing the firm to react to market developments faster than many competitors. He expanded aggressively into western markets at a time when relatively few New York brokerage houses operated nationally, establishing offices in San Francisco and Los Angeles and helping transform the company into one of the most prominent brokerage firms in the United States.
The 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire became an early test of the firm's resilience. Although the company's offices there were destroyed, important records survived and operations resumed quickly. Under Hutton's leadership, E. F. Hutton and Company continued its expansion and became nationally identified with authority and financial influence. Long after his lifetime, the reputation of the brokerage house entered American popular culture through the famous advertising slogan, "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen."
On January 2, 1900, Hutton married Blanche Conant Horton. Their son, Halcourt Horton Hutton, was born May 7, 1902. Blanche died during the influenza epidemic of 1918, a loss that deeply affected Hutton.
On June 27, 1920, he married Marjorie Merriweather Post, the only child of cereal magnate Charles William Post and one of the wealthiest women in the United States. That same year, in September 1920, Hutton's son Halcourt suffered fatal injuries in a riding accident on Long Island and died at the age of eighteen. The death of his only son marked one of the greatest personal tragedies of his life.
Through his marriage to Marjorie Post, Hutton became deeply involved in the management and expansion of the Postum Cereal Company. His role extended far beyond that of a family connection, as he helped direct corporate structure, acquisitions, and financial organization during a period of major expansion. Under his influence, the company acquired nationally recognized brands including Jell-O, Maxwell House Coffee, Baker's Chocolate, and Birds Eye products, transforming the business into a diversified food conglomerate.
This expansion culminated in 1929 with the formation of General Foods Corporation, one of the most important consumer goods companies in the United States. Hutton served as chairman and became associated not only with Wall Street finance but also with the rise of large-scale American corporate enterprise during the early twentieth century.
In 1923, Hutton and Post had a daughter, Nedenia Marjorie Hutton, later known as actress and philanthropist Dina Merrill.
During the 1920s, Hutton and Post occupied a prominent place in American business and society. Their principal Long Island estate was Hillwood in Brookville, one of the major Gold Coast properties developed during the era.
In Palm Beach they first established Hogarcito on Golfview Road before constructing Mar-a-Lago, the vast ocean-to-lake estate completed in 1927 and designed principally by Marion Sims Wyeth with decorative work associated with Joseph Urban. The residence became one of the most celebrated private estates in the United States.
Hutton was also devoted to yachting. In 1931, he and Post commissioned the four-masted sailing yacht Hussar V, later known as Sea Cloud. At the time of its construction it was the largest privately owned sailing yacht in the world and later served with the United States Coast Guard during the Second World War.
The marriage between Hutton and Post ended in divorce in 1935 following years of intense public attention surrounding the couple's wealth and social prominence. On January 25, 1936, Hutton married Dorothy Dear Metzger in South Carolina. Dorothy thereafter became active in Long Island and New York charitable and social organizations, and newspaper society coverage during the following decades regularly referenced Mr. and Mrs. Edward F. Hutton among prominent Nassau County and Manhattan civic and philanthropic circles.
In his later years, Hutton maintained a quieter life centered on his estate, Hutfield, in Old Westbury, though he remained influential in financial and public affairs.
He continued participating in civic and patriotic causes and in 1949 helped establish the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge, an organization promoting patriotic education and civic ideals during the early Cold War period. Contemporary newspapers continued to describe him as a nationally recognized financial authority and major public figure well into the 1950s.
Edward Francis Hutton died July 11, 1962, at his estate in Old Westbury, New York, at the age of eighty-six.
He was buried July 13, 1962, in Locust Valley Cemetery, Locust Valley, Nassau County, New York. His grave remained unmarked for many years following his death before a marker was later placed through the efforts of his daughter, Dina Merrill.
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It’s sad that such an important figure in our society as E. F. Hutton was, that he should be so casually dismissed upon his death without a beautiful headstone or a remarkable mausoleum built as a memorial in remembrance of him.