[5] After graduating from Yale, Corning served as an executive at the Ludlum Steel Company in Watervliet, New York, and became its president in 1910.

In the 1921 contest for mayor, the O'Connell/Corning organization succeeded in electing Hackett, the beginning of Democratic control of city hall that has remained in place ever since.

After Hackett's death in a car accident, Corning considered making the campaign, but declined because of ill health.

[11] On November 25, 1908, he married Louise Maxwell,[12] who was born to American parents in Cawnpore, India, where her father was serving as a missionary.

Together, Louise and Edwin were the parents of:[13] He died on a hospital operating table in Bar Harbor, Maine, during a second leg amputation, which was necessary because of gangrene derived from diabetes.