Edward L. Norton
For engineer and scientist Edward L. Norton, please see Edward Lawry Norton.
Edward Lee Norton was an American banker that was a member of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System from September 2, 1950 until February 1, 1952.
Early life and career
Norton was born in Blountsville, Alabama, in 1892. He had earned his bachelor of science degree from Birmingham-Southern College in 1913. From 1913 to 1914, he was a student at the University of Alabama and would return to Birmingham-Southern College for this doctorate in law LL.D.. In 1915, he had started at the Munger family of companies as a private secretary to R.S. Munger of Munger Realty and, in 1924, he was promoted to executive vice president. In 1926, he became executive vice president of Munger Mortgage Company. In 1939, he left the mortgage company to accept his appointment as chairman of the board of the Birmingham branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.Prior to his Federal Reserve Board of Governors position, he had held the following positions:
- President of the Birmingham Baseball Club
- Chairman of the board of the Florida Broadcasting Company of Jacksonville, Florida
Edward L. Norton died of heart attack in his Birmingham, Alabama home on April 12, 1966.
Career
Norton was appointed to the Board of Governors by President Harry Truman in 1950. He later resigned in 1952 to pursue business interests. Norton had written the following in his resignation letter to the president:Since you are the inspiration or source of my appointment to the Board of Governors, I feel deeply indebted to you, and I covet the opportunity to reciprocate.After leaving his position as governor, he later became chairman of the board and principal shareholder of the Voice of Alabama Inc., which had operated the following stations and/or corporations:
- WAPI, which is a commercial AM radio station in Birmingham, Alabama.
- WAFM-TV Birmingham, which is now WVTM-TV.
- Florida Broadcasting Company, which had operated WMBR in Jacksonville, Florida.