While serving in the United States Navy during World War II, he learned to play the Hammond organ.

When he retired on September 28, 2003, he played a final performance of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game", while fans chanted "Eddie!

[3] In addition, Layton played the organ at Radio City Music Hall for thirty years of Pace University commencements held there.

In 2009, Soapluvva established a YouTube tribute channel to both Layton and Charles Paul, who were colleagues of each other at the CBS Broadcast Center in Manhattan.

[2] He was buried at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Queens, New York City, with his feet pointed away from Shea Stadium.

In Ken Burns' 1994 documentary Baseball, in a sequence on New York Mets fans in the film's eighth installment, Silverbush can be seen briefly playing a trumpet at Shea Stadium in 1969.