Edwin F. Russell

Edwin Fairman Russell (July 15, 1914 – December 22, 2001) was an American newspaper publisher who had joined the Royal Navy to fight Germany before the United States entered World War II. Early life Russell was born on July 15, 1914, in Elizabeth, New Jersey, one of five children born to Lucius Thomas Russell (1871–1948) and Marian Cronin. His father, who was born in Mississippi, was a newspaper publisher who founded The Newark Star, which became The Star-Ledger. Russell was a 1937 graduate of Princeton University. Career As the United States had yet to enter World War II, Russell enlisted in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. In the autumn of 1941, he was summoned for active duty in the British Royal Navy and, after a brief tour of duty in Canadian waters, attended the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and served aboard the British cruiser Norfolk as gunnery officer. He met his first wife, Lady Mary, in Scotland while recovering from an injury he received on the job.