Edward S. Harkness

Edward Harkness
Harkness circa 1912
Born	Edward Stephen Harkness (1874-01-22)January 22, 1874 Cleveland, Ohio
Died	January 29, 1940(1940-01-29) (aged 66)
Resting place	Woodlawn Cemetery
Citizenship	American
Education	St. Paul's School Yale College Columbia Law School
Net worth	US$155 million (1940)
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Mary Stillman
Parent(s)	Stephen V. Harkness Anna M. Richardson (Harkness)
Relatives	Charles W. Harkness, brother Florence, sister Lamon V. Harkness half brother

Edward Stephen Harkness (January 22, 1874 – January 29, 1940) was an American philanthropist. Given privately and through his family's Commonwealth Fund, Harkness' gifts to private hospitals, art museums, and educational institutions in the Northeastern United States were among the largest of the early twentieth century. His was a major benefactor to the Columbia University, Yale University, Harvard University, Phillips Exeter Academy, St. Paul's School, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, as well as the University of St Andrews in Scotland.

Harkness inherited his fortune from his father, Stephen V. Harkness, whose wealth was established by an early investment in Standard Oil, and his brother, Charles W. Harkness. In 1918, he was ranked the 6th-richest person in the United States by Forbes magazine's first "Rich List", behind John D. Rockefeller, Henry Clay Frick, Andrew Carnegie, George Fisher Baker, and William Rockefeller.

Harkness was born in Cleveland, Ohio, one of four sons of Anna M. Harkness and Stephen V. Harkness, a harness-maker who invested in and was one of the five founding partners in the forerunner of Standard Oil, John D. Rockefeller's oil company. Stephen Harkness died when Edward was fourteen, leaving his wife and oldest son, Charles, to manage the estate. Harkness attended St. Paul's School and Yale College, Class of 1897 and Columbia Law School. Harkness, his brother Charles, and cousin William were members of Wolf's Head Society at Yale.