John Joy Edson

John Joy Edson (May 17, 1846 – July 15, 1935), was president of the Washington Loan and Trust Company, Equitable Co-operative Building Association, treasurer of the American Geographical Society, and Chairman of the Board and treasurer of the National Geographic Society.

Biography John Joy Edson was born on May 17, 1846, in Jefferson, Ohio. He attended public schools in Ohio.

At 14, he enlisted in the 61st New York Volunteers serving in the Civil War in the Virginia and Maryland campaigns. He was a clerk in the office of the Comptroller of the Currency, from 1863 to 1875. He was a delegate to the Pan-American Financial Congress in 1914.

In 1928, he was hit by a car crossing F Street in Washington, D.C. He died on July 15, 1935, at his home in Washington, D.C. He was interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.