Edwin Coffin

Edwin James Coffin (born November 5, 1930) is an American multi-millionaire businessman, investment banker, and philanthropist, and scion of the distinguished old guard Coffin family of Madbury, New Hampshire. Since 1957, he has been president and CEO of the Coffin Land & Timber Company and managing general partner of the Coffin Real Estate Holding Company. In December 1959, he was named president of the Merchants Savings and Loan Corporation of Dover, N.H. At 30 years old, he is the youngest sitting bank president in America.

Known to family and close friends as “Ned,” he is married to the former Alice Howell (born March 16, 1934), with whom he has two sons. He and his family reside at the Coffinhurst Estate in Madbury. They also own a ski chalet in Aspen, Colo., and a beach house in Kennebunkport, Me. Athletic by nature, and an avid outdoorsman, Coffin enjoys golf, tennis, cycling and sailing, as well as skiing, hiking, and hunting. He is a devout Catholic, and regularly attends Sunday Mass at Saint Barbara’s Church in Madbury.

Life and Career

Despite the advantageous circumstances of his birth into a prominent and affluent family, Edwin’s life has been marked by tragedy, turbulence, and turmoil.

Childhood

Edwin James Coffin was born November 5, 1930, at Coffinhurst in Madbury, N.H., just as America and the world descended into the depths of the Great Depression. He is the son of multi-millionaire businessman Barnaby J. Coffin (1902-1953) and his wife, philanthropist and socialite Evelyn (Blood) Coffin (born August 25, 1905). He has six younger siblings – Dudley, Judith, Norris, Grover, Maynard, and Katherine.

He was not yet a year old when his grandfather, multi-millionaire industrialist and financier Edwin C. Coffin (1876-1931), was shot to death during a party in Newport, R.I., causing chaos within the Coffin family and its business empire. Despite an intense and probing investigation by the Rhode Island State Police, the murderer was never identified, although rumors persist that Edwin’s widow, Josephine (Graves) Coffin (born April 21, 1878), was somehow involved in her husband’s death, and might even have been the actual killer.

The sudden, untimely death of their patriarch during those challenging economic times threw the entire family, and its many business interests, into a state of confusion and disarray. Scandalized by the events leading up to her husband’s death, and the accusatory whispers that followed it, Josephine Coffin fell into a deep psychological depression and withdrew almost entirely from any form of public life, ultimately becoming a complete recluse. His mother’s inability to cope with the challenges of the situation left Edwin’s father Barnaby, the eldest son, to handle all the pressing affairs of family and business.

The circumstances were further complicated when Edwin’s uncle John contested Barnaby for control of the family fortune. John was aided in his effort by their sister Mary, who had recently married Robert L. Stewart of Paris, Me., heir to the Stewart’s Canned Beans fortune. Despite his mother’s efforts to protect and shield her children during those tumultuous times, young Edwin could not help but witness many angry exchanges between his father and his uncle, some even resulting in fisticuffs.

By unknown means, although some have claimed fraud and coercion, Edwin’s father Barnaby secured controlling interest in the family businesses from his widowed mother, seizing sole authority over the Coffin fortune, and resulting in a deep schism between him and his siblings. He consolidated his hold on the family’s vast resources with the establishment of the Barnaby J. Coffin Irrevocable Trust of 1936, which provided a framework for financial stability, and ensured that Edwin would be the sole, unchallenged heir to the patriarchy of the family. He also established separate trust funds for each of his other children that will guarantee them lifelong financial independence, provided they do not challenge the primary trust.

Although business matters kept Barnaby Coffin away from home for long stretches of time, he was nevertheless a formidable presence in Edwin’s life during his childhood. He encouraged Edwin, and all his children, to be ambitious, and to strive for excellence, especially academically. From early on, he groomed Edwin to take over the family when his time came, instilling in him a sense of responsibility to his siblings and his family. He told Edwin of the family's long, rich, heritage, and of the twelve generations of great men from whom he descended, as it would be Edwin's solemn duty to maintain and preserve that heritage at all costs. Barnaby Coffin constantly reminded Edwin, and all of his children, "Always remember you are a Coffin."

The Coffins are an old and proud family, who have long documented their background in meticulous detail. As a young boy, Edwin was exposed to countless stories about his illustrious ancestors, and to the legend that has come to be known as the Coffin Curse. As he grew older, he began to explore more closely the hidden secrets of his family’s past, all of which are recorded in detail among the several old volumes that now comprise the Coffin Family History, and which hold a place of prominence within the library at Coffinhurst. Over time, he would learn the full extent of the litany of tragedy and misfortune that has dogged his family for over 300 years.

Education and Later Life

Edwin attended St. Barbara’s School before enrolling in Drury Academy in 1943, where he was an outstanding cross-country runner and rowed on the varsity crew. Graduating with honors in 1949, he went on to attend Litchmoor University, where he continued to excel academically. While at Litchmoor, he was Managing Editor of The Black Letter, rowed varsity crew, and was selected as a member of Red Skull. He earned a B.A. in economics from Litchmoor College in 1953 and received his M.B.A. from the Charles O. Coffin Graduate School of Business in 1955.

He met his future wife in December 1952, while skiing at Courchevel in the French Alps during a Christmastime vacation trip. On June 30, 1956, Coffin married Alice Kendall Howell in Kennebunkport, two weeks after her graduation from Radcliffe. Known since childhood as "Lissy," she is the daughter of Thornton G. Howell (1904-1954) and Sinclair (Kendall) Howell (1905-1944) of Darien, Conn. Their first son, Barnaby James Coffin II, whom they call "Skip," was born September 20, 1957. His brother, Edwin James Coffin Jr., nicknamed "Chip," was born March 13, 1959.

Edwin has worked in a variety of positions for several Coffin family companies since he was a boy. As he grew older, he was given more responsibilities in the family businesses and exposed to many of the details concerning the family's financial interests. It became clear early on that his father was grooming him to take over as head of the family when the time arrived. This sometimes led to tension between Edwin and his younger brother Dudley.

In 1953, while still in college, Edwin convinced his father to loan him $1 million, which he shrewdly invested just in time to make a fortune in the great bull market of 1954. He was able to pay back the loan in less than a year, but his father's untimely death in a tragic hunting accident on November 16, 1953, made it impossible for Edwin to repay his father personally.

The sudden death of Barnaby Coffin by accidental suicide had a devastating effect upon the Coffin family and their businesses. But it was particularly traumatic for Edwin. As the firstborn son, he was the apple of Barnaby’s eye, and in turn he idolized his doting father. The news of the shooting was a complete shock to Edwin, and it is questionable whether he has ever gotten over the loss. He wanted to leave school, to help his mother maintain the family businesses, but she insisted he remain at Litchmoor to complete his studies.

After earning his M.B.A., Edwin immediately went to work managing the family’s real estate investments. He was installed as executive vice president of Coffin Land & Timber and appointed to the finance committee of Coffin Real Estate Holdings. By 1957 he had been elevated to CEO and managing general partner, respectively, taking charge of the fourth largest privately held real estate portfolio in the United States. A vocal advocate for ecological sustainability in the logging industry, he was named Timber Harvesting magazine’s "Man of the Year" in 1959 for the numerous innovative forest management policies he implemented at Coffin Land & Timber after assuming control as CEO.

In addition to overseeing the family's vast real estate holdings, Edwin has also taken on day-to-day management of the Merchants Savings and Loan, in which the Coffin family has owned a controlling interest since its founding in 1911. He assumed his father's seat on the board of directors in 1954, and was elected chairman in 1957. He was appointed president and CEO of the bank in December 1959.

Edwin Coffin is expected to take an increasingly active role in the management of the Coffin family enterprises, and eventually to assume control of the Coffin financial interests and patriarchy of the family. Thus far, he has proven to be extremely capable and innovative, and looks forward to emulating his father when given the opportunity. Under the terms of the Barnaby J. Coffin Irrevocable Trust of 1936, he will gain full control of the Coffin family fortune on his thirty-fifth birthday, November 5, 1965.

Description

Edwin Coffin is an exceedingly personable man, with a pleasing appearance and agreeable disposition. He is strikingly handsome and solidly built, carrying 190 lean pounds on his 5'11" frame. His eyes, like most Coffins, are charcoal gray, and his thick wavy hair is a flawlessly groomed dark chocolate brown. He has the ruddy-bronze complexion of a man who enjoys the outdoors regardless of the season.

An affable companion, he shares his endearing, infectious smile effortlessly and carries himself with the sophisticated ease that comes from generations of social conditioning. He has an extensive wardrobe, and always takes great care with his clothing, preferring the timeless classic styles over trendy fashions. He maintains an elegant, though understated, appearance in every situation, and is known to change his attire several times per day.

He is reserved in his mannerisms, and quite charming, not prone to outbursts or inappropriate actions. Generally soft-spoken, his warm baritone voice can be equally as commanding as comforting. Like generations of Coffins before him, Edwin speaks in the cultivated manner of the Boston upper class, without any hint of the Yankee accent so common to the coastal New England area. Smart, articulate, and a born leader, he is well-suited to the high stakes challenges he is sure to encounter as he assumes control of his family's financial empire.

Personality

Edwin's personality can best be described as intense. A complex, passionate man, prone to strong emotions, he has sometimes struggled to maintain his composure when overwhelmed by his fiery inclinations. In public, he has cultivated the tough, cool exterior persona of the stoic, projecting an image of calm control, and finds it extremely difficult to let his guard down. He is serious and strait-laced in his approach to life, resourceful, and driven to succeed in accomplishing his ambitions. Shrewd in business, he is honest and trustworthy in his dealings with others. Once his trust has been earned, he is as loyal as the day is long.

He is intellectually curious and naturally inquisitive, always determined to research, study, and get to the heart of any matter that warrants his attention. At the same time, he has a strong sense of intuition, upon which he does not hesitate to rely when facts are obscured, or lack of time requires immediate action. He tends to see things as black or white, with little patience for the gray areas of life. As a result, he always comes across as deliberate in his reasoning and firm in his decisions. A sharp observer, he's a man who reveals very little.

Family is everything to Edwin, both in the greater sense of his heritage, spanning twelve generations and over three hundred years in New England, as well as in the more immediate sense of his singular devotion to his wife and children. He is a faithful, protective husband as well as a kind and caring father. From a very young age, he has seen it as his personal responsibility to bring an end to the long string of tragedies, scandals, and misfortunes that have bedeviled his family for generations, and to restore both the Coffin fortune and reputation to their former stature.