Edward Rathbone Bacon (born in Le Roy, New York, on November 22, 1848) was president of a railroad, lawyer and financier.

He had four siblings, Walter Rathbone, Lathrup Rufus, John Ganson, and Mary Sibley Bacon.

[1][2] Bacon died on December 2, 1915, in Baltimore, Maryland, as a result of an appendicitis operation he had a week earlier.

[3] Bacon's main residence was 247 5th Avenue, New York, where he lived with his brother Walter and his sister-in-law Virginia P.

In fact, "it was through his efforts that the Cincinnati, Washington & Baltimore branch of the road was built," according to Bacon's New York Times obituary.

[1][3][11] Edward Bacon owned an extensive collection of Old Master paintings and Chinese art objects.

"[12] In reference to his collection of Chinese art, John Getz wrote that Edward Bacon was "among those connoisseurs who long ago recognized the beauty and intrinsic worth of Chinese art as manifested in ceramics, cloisonné, bronze…"[15] Getz also mentioned a "reliable agent abroad" who aided Bacon in discovering and purchasing these artworks.

An American Art News reporter wrote, in a review of the books, that "The catalogs have a literary character and differ from the ordinary sale and collection catalogs in that they give interesting pen pictures of the works listed and illustrated, and copious footnotes.

He was included in Who's Who in America in 1907, in Herringshaw's American Blue Book of Biography in 1914, and in Who's Who in New York City and State in 1914.

[24] He made bequests totaling around $1,000,000 to relatives and employees, and specified that the rest of the estate, including his collection of paintings, be shared equally between his brother Walter R. Bacon and his sister-in-law Virginia P.

[2] Bequests included $400,000 to both his sister Mary B. Allen and his brother John G. Bacon, and his cousins and nieces each received $50,000 and $40,000, respectively.