Theodore Miller Edison
Quick Facts
Biography
Theodore Miller Edison (July 10, 1898 – November 24, 1992) was an American businessman, inventor, and environmentalist. He was the fourth son and youngest child of inventor Thomas Edison, and founder of Calibron Industries, Inc.. He was the third child of Edison with his second wife, Mina Miller Edison.
Biography
He was born on July 15, 1898 at Glenmont, the Edison home in Llewellyn Park in West Orange, New Jersey. He attended The Haverford School in Haverford, Pennsylvania, and later the Montclair Academy in Montclair, New Jersey, from which he graduated in 1916. Theodore ended his education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He earned a physics degree in 1923 and remained there another year to pursue graduate studies.
In 1925 he married Anna Maria (Ann) Osterhout, a graduate of Vassar College.
After graduation, Theodore worked for his father's company, Thomas A. Edison, Inc., starting as a lab assistant. He later founded his own company, Calibron Industries, Inc., and built his own smaller laboratory in West Orange. He earned over 80 patents in his career.
In later years he became an ardent environmentalist and helped preserve Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary in south west Florida. He was also an opponent of the Vietnam War and advocate of Zero Population Growth. He lived in West Orange, New Jersey and died from Parkinson's disease on November 24, 1992.