Edward F. Hutton

Edward Francis Hutton was born on September 7, 1875, and began his career in finance at the turn of the 20th century. In 1904 he and his brother Franklyn Laws Hutton founded E.F. Hutton & Co., initially operating as a brokerage firm that over decades expanded into a nationwide retail brokerage network and became one of the largest brokerage houses in the United States. Under Hutton’s leadership the firm grew in prestige and scope; notable early people associated with the company included trader Gerald M. Loeb, who joined in 1924 and later became chairman. The firm developed seasonal offices to serve wealthy clients in resort towns and established a reputation for both retail and institutional services, helping E.F. Hutton become a dominant name on Wall Street through much of the 20th century. Outside of his brokerage activities, Hutton lived a socially prominent life and was involved in significant personal projects. He married Marjorie Merriweather Post in 1920; during their marriage they built Mar‑a‑Lago in Palm Beach, Florida, and commissioned the large four‑masted barque Hussar V (later renamed Sea Cloud). Hutton remained active in business until his death in 1962. After Hutton’s death the firm continued to operate and evolve, but the E.F. Hutton name later became associated with major corporate changes and controversies in the 1970s–1980s, including regulatory and criminal investigations into certain check‑kiting and banking practices that ultimately contributed to the sale and absorption of the original firm in the late 1980s.