Edwin T. Earl

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]