Edward Dean Adams (April 9, 1846 – May 20, 1931)[1] was an American businessman, banker, power broker and numismatist.

He graduated from Norwich University with a Bachelor of Science in 1864, and attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology from 1865 to 1866 after spending a year in Europe.

Adams joined a Boston stockbroker firm, T.J. Lee & Hill, in 1867, where he worked as a bookkeeper and a cashier.

[6] Adams was a trustee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art for almost 40 years, and served in various capacities.

[3] He also made many gifts to the museum, including a collection of reproductions of the more noteworthy of the bronzes from Herculaneum, in the National Museum at Naples; a collection of photographs of Renaissance architecture and ornament, and of Renaissance and baroque sculpture, medals and many other pieces.