Edwin Corning

Corning was born on September 30, 1883, in Albany, New York. He was a son of Erastus Corning (1827–1897) and Mary (née Parker) Corning (1845–1899).^[1] His brother, Parker Corning served as a member of the United States House of Representatives.^[2]

Both of his grandfathers, Erastus Corning and Amasa J. Parker, served in Congress, and Parker was also a justice of the New York Supreme Court and founder of Albany Law School.^[3]

He was educated at The Albany Academy and the Groton School,^[4] and graduated from Yale University in 1906.^[5]

After graduating from Yale, Corning served as an executive at the Ludlum Steel Company in Watervliet, New York, and became its president in 1910.^[6] He was also an officer of the Albany Felt Company, and served on the board of directors of several Albany banks. Corning was also a gentleman farmer, and bred prize winning horses, sheep and cows. In addition, he was a dog breeder, and became known for his champion Irish wolfhounds.^[7]

Political career

In the years immediately after World War I, Corning collaborated with Daniel P. O'Connell to create a Democratic organization in Albany that could wrest control of the city from the Republican organization run by William Barnes Jr.; their strategy was to run wealthy non-ethnic Protestants like Edwin Corning, William Stormont Hackett, Parker Corning, and Erastus Corning 2nd for major offices including mayor and Congressman to enhance the respectability and credibility of a Democratic organization run by working class Irish-American, Catholic figures like O'Connell.^[8] Corning became chairman of the Albany County Democratic Committee in 1912 and chairman of the county committee's executive committee in 1919. In the 1921 contest for mayor, the O'Connell/Corning organization succeeded in electing Hackett, the beginning of Democratic control of city hall that has remained in place ever since.^[7]

Corning was chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee from 1926 to 1928.^[9] He was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1927 to 1928, elected on the Democratic ticket with Governor Alfred E. Smith in 1926.^[10] In 1928, when Smith planned to run for president, the Albany Democratic organization intended to run Hackett for governor. After Hackett's death in a car accident, Corning considered making the campaign, but declined because of ill health. After his term as lieutenant governor he retired from his business and political interests.^[11]

On November 25, 1908, he married Louise Maxwell,^[12] who was born to American parents in Cawnpore, India, where her father was serving as a missionary. Together, Louise and Edwin were the parents of:^[13]

• Erastus Corning 2nd (1909–1983), who served as Mayor of Albany for over 40 years.^[14][15]
• Louise Corning (1911–1954), who married Andrew Hamilton Ransom.^[16]
• Harriet Corning (1916–1966), who married Wharton Sinkle Jr. (1914–1953) in 1937.^[17] She later married Samuel E. Ewing.^[18]
• Edwin Corning Jr. (1919–1964), who was serving in the New York State Assembly when he was involved in a 1959 car accident.^[19] He resigned his Assembly seat, and died without recovering fully.^[20][21][22]

Corning died at a hospital in Bar Harbor, Maine on August 7, 1934, during a second leg amputation that was necessary because of gangrene derived from diabetes.^[7] He was buried at Albany Rural Cemetery in Menands, New York.^[23]