Edwards was born on October 26, 1931, in St. Louis, Missouri, where he lived his entire life other than during college and military service.
[1] His great-grandfather, Albert Gallatin Edwards, was an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury in the administration of Abraham Lincoln, and founded the eponymous firm in 1887.
[2] Edwards earned his undergraduate degree from Princeton University in 1953, and did a stint in the United States Navy.
By the time of Edwards's death in 2009, Wachovia had become a wholly owned financial services subsidiary of Wells Fargo.
[3] He put this second collection up for auction after offering it for sale to his firm, which turned him down, and noting that "Antiques pay no dividends or interest" and that he needed the money to fund his retirement.