Sir Edward Wilder Playfair KCB (17 May 1909 – 21 March 1999) was an English civil servant and businessman.
His grandmother Mary Leighton was a noted translator of medieval legend of Virgilius the Sorcerer for Andrew Lang's The Violet Fairy Book.
He was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1957 New Year Honours.
[5] In 1966 he declared himself a "hater of St Pancras" and thus was opposed to Sir John Betjeman's campaign to save the Sir George Gilbert Scott designed Midland Grand Hotel.
[6] Playfair became a trustee (1967–74) and for two years Chairman of the Board (1972–74) of the National Gallery in London.