Edwin F. Russell

Who was Edwin F. Russell?

Edwin F. Russell was an American newspaper publisher who had joined the Royal Navy to fight Germany before the United States entered World War II.

Russell was the chairman of The Patriot-News Company and the former publisher of The Harrisburg Patriot-News in Harrisburg, Pa. He was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey to Lucius Russell, a newspaper publisher, and Marian Cronin. After graduating from Princeton University, he worked during the 1940s as the associate publisher of The Star-Ledger. In 1941, he was summoned to active duty by the British government after he had previously enlisted in the Royal Navy Voluntary Reserve. Russell eventually joined the staff of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.

In 1943, he married Lady Sarah Spencer-Churchill, daughter of John Spencer-Churchill, 10th Duke of Marlborough. Winston Spencer Churchill, a grandson of the prime minister, served as a page at the wedding. The marriage ended in divorce in 1966, following which he married Iris Paine, and then Cynthia Cary Van Pelt, who survived him.