by Karen Brune Mathis
Managing Editor
Marvin Edwards is a fixture in Jacksonville.
A longtime investment counselor, Edwards is probably best known for his tireless advocacy for causes he believes in, such as improving the public school system, voicing his concerns with the Skyway and criticizing the costs of the stadium renovations.
That’s a very short list from decades of activism and dozens of issues.
“It’s just my feeling that too many people sit aside and feel that ... ethics are carried out by other people,” he said.
Edwards doesn’t hesitate to take his opinions and advice to those at the top. He has a stack of letters from lawmakers supporting or at least acknowledging his efforts.
“It’s a good thing I’ve lived to be 89 or I wouldn’t have been able to do all the things I’ve done,” Edwards said from his Miramar area home and office. He turns 90 in June.
Edwards came to Jacksonville in 1941 after his father, vice president of National Container Corp., was transferred to Jacksonville from Manhattan.
The young Edwards soon returned to the city to earn his bachelor’s degree in business administration and finance from New York University. His minor was journalism, which he continues to practice.
Edwards enlisted in the U.S. Air Force and was called to active duty. It was World War II. His missions were top-secret.
Edwards served in the Office of Strategic Services, the forerunner to the CIA. The OSS engaged in intelligence and special operations throughout the war. Edwards was a navigator.
An OSS letter dated Oct. 3, 1945, notes that Edwards was among a group of men who, among other duties, supplied men and materials to the resistance forces, took OSS operatives and air freight to installations throughout Europe and assisted where needed.
After the war, Edwards settled in Jacksonville in 1947. He was in his early 30s when his family urged him to call on the daughter of family friends.
She lived in Washington, D.C. He visited. They were engaged on their seventh date and he and Helene will celebrate their 56th anniversary in March.
They raised three children: Jeffrey, who is chief financial officer of Beaver Street Fisheries in Jacksonville; Douglas, one of the early employees of Google and the author of a book about the experience; and Carolyn, who lives in Massachusetts.
He and Helene have seven grandchildren, with three in California, two in Massachusetts and two in Jacksonville.
Edwards put his business degree to work as president of the Edwards & Edwards Investment firm.
He founded the Economic Roundtable of Jacksonville in 1975 and served two terms as president, at the start and again in 1990-91.
Edwards has been a frequent speaker and a prolific newspaper columnist. He keeps copies of his columns, organized and highlighted, that show his predictions and comments about world affairs, war, politics, business, education, economics and other matters. When his stories scooped the dailies, he so noted that.
He also keeps copies of the many stores written about him. “Squaring off against City Hall” headlined a feature about Edwards in 1993 in the Times-Union. “Wheels of mass transit fiasco keep on rolling” headlined a commentary reply he wrote in 1995 in the T-U. “Beating Up on the City’s ‘Syndicate’” was the headline in a 2001 Florida Trend profile.
Edwards also served many community service roles. For example, he was an officer with the Jacksonville Humane Society in the 1950s, directing the capital investment fundraising drive and recruiting the “TODAY” show’s star chimp, J. Fred Muggs, to town to perform in a benefit.
Muggs was well-trained, for the most part. “Sometimes he’d throw something at somebody,” said Edwards.
Edwards keeps about 3,000 books in his home, with the volumes in his office double-parked on the bookcases.
He knows where to find what he’s looking for, whether it’s a book or a fact.
“I still have my memory,” he says.
356-2466