After his retirement, Ben was succeeded by a non-family member who arranged the 2007 sale of the firm to Wachovia, which became part of Wells Fargo in 2008. Ben’s son Tad started Benjamin F. Edwards & Co. to continue the Edwards’ tradition.
When double first cousins Ben and Ted Barker entered Princeton from St. Louis Country Day School, Ted jokes that they had to explain to some dubious classmates that “we weren’t brothers from a southern Gothic relationship.” They began rooming together, played frosh baseball, were squash teammates for four years (Ben being captain in 1953), and both joined Tower Club. Another Tower member, Dick Ellwood, says Ben was “the soul of integrity” throughout his life. Dick recalls Ben’s hearty laughter coming from the club’s recreation room as he banged away at table tennis.
Cherishing his memory are Ben’s loving wife, Joan, whom he married right before graduation; children Scott, Tad (Benjamin F. IV), Pamela Bunn, and Susan Medart; sisters Elizabeth Collins and Judith Bayer; and 11 grandchildren.