Edward A. Filene
| Edward Filene | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
September 3, 1860 Salem, Massachusetts |
| Died | September 26, 1937 (aged 77) Paris, France |
| Occupation | Businessman; philanthropist |
| Parent(s) | William Filene, Clara Ballin |
Edward Albert Filene (September 3, 1860 – September 26, 1937) was an American businessman and philanthropist. He is best known for building the Filene's department store chain and for his decisive role in pioneering credit unions across the United States.
Born in Salem, Massachusetts, Edward was one of five children of William Filene (born May 8, 1830) and Clara Ballin (born December 13, 1833). William Filene was a German Jewish immigrant from Posen, Prussia, while Clara Ballin was born in Segnitz, Bavaria. William immigrated to the US in 1848 after abandoning law school in Berlin. It was some time in the 1850s that William and Clara met while Clara was visiting relatives in Hartford, Connecticut. They married in New York City. As "a peddler, chiefly of women’s apparel" William built up a company composed of several small retail shops.
Edward was born in Salem, Massachusetts. In 1865, at the age of 5, he was injured in a fall that left him with a permanent limp. Eczema plagued him throughout his life.In 1872, Clara Filene enrolled her three boys in Handel's Institut, a military school, known for excellence in instruction and discipline. The boys remained at the school until 1875, and it was a period of intense loneliness and homesickness for him as a young teenager. Filene was shy as a youth, and never married. Upon his return to the US, Edward attended high school in Lynn, Massachusetts, and worked in his father's store evenings, weekends, and summers.
In 1881, when Edward was 21 years old, his father William founded a department store in Boston. Edward began traveling in the 1880s, purchasing merchandise, studying business practices, and increasingly examining how different societies were organized and the problems they faced. Edward had passed his entrance exams for Harvard University when in 1890 his father became seriously ill. Thirty years old at that time, Edward gave up his educational ambitions to take over the family business. One of his great disappointments in his life was being unable to attend Harvard.
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