Edward Allen Pierce (August 31, 1874 – December 16, 1974) was an American businessman and stock broker. Pierce was most notable for leading the firm of A.A. Housman & Company through the 1920s and 1930s and turning the firm into the largest brokerage in the U.S.. The firm, which was renamed E.A. Pierce & Co. in recognition of Pierce, was one of the predecessors of

Merrill Lynch Merrill (officially Merrill Lynch, Pierce, Fenner & Smith Incorporated), previously branded Merrill Lynch, is an American investment management and wealth management division of Bank of America. Along with BofA Securities, the investment bank ...

, Pierce, Fenner & Smith.

Biography

Pierce was born in 1874 in

Orrington, Maine Orrington is a town on the Penobscot River estuary in Penobscot County, Maine, Penobscot County, Maine, United States. The population was 3,812 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. History Orrington was originally part of Condustiegg or ...

, and attended

Bowdoin College Bowdoin College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Brunswick, Maine. When Bowdoin was chartered in 1794, Maine was still a part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. The college offers 34 majors and 36 minors, as well as several joint eng ...

before dropping out. The college conferred an honorary

Doctor of Laws A Doctor of Law is a degree in law. The application of the term varies from country to country and includes degrees such as the Doctor of Juridical Science (J.S.D. or S.J.D), Juris Doctor (J.D.), Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.), and Legum Doctor (LL. ...

degree on Pierce in 1956. In 1960, a second honorary Doctor of Laws was conferred on him by

Brown University Brown University is a private research university in Providence, Rhode Island. Brown is the seventh-oldest institution of higher education in the United States, founded in 1764 as the College in the English Colony of Rhode Island and Providenc ...

, where he was a trustee. Pierce, who had worked as the manager of a lumber business in his twenties, gave up a comfortable $100 a week salary to become a clerk at A.A. Housman & Company in 1901. In 1921, he became the sole managing partner of the firm and led it through a major transformation becoming one of the leading Wall Street brokerage firms. In 1927, the firm was renamed E.A. Pierce & Co. in honor of his role in leading the firm. He died in December 1974 at the age of 100. According to his obituary, at the time of his death, he was survived by his wife, Luella Van Hoosear, age 102.

References

*Robert Cole, "Edward A. Pierce" in Charles D. Ellis, James R. Vertin (eds)
Wall Street people: True stories of the great barons of finance
', vol 2, p. 14. John Wiley and Sons, 2003

''Time'', February 4, 1935

''Time'', November 10, 1930 American brokers Merrill (company) people 1874 births 1974 deaths American centenarians Men centenarians Bowdoin College alumni Businesspeople from Maine People from Orrington, Maine {{US-business-bio-1870s-stub