Note: this memorial updated July 27, 2015 with corrected DOB and DOD information. A previous cemetery listing inadvertently used the burial date of Feb. 27, 1942 for the death date.
------------------
Son of Dr. John Victor Bean and Elizabeth Wilson Bean.
Husband of Mabel Greene Bean, married May 25, 1929.
------------------
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Monday February 23, 1942
Pg. 1 Col. 5
EDGAR R. BEAN DIES SUDDENLY IN NEW YORK
Former Fairfield man stricken while at work on Daily News
Edgar Rogers Bean, well known former Fairfield resident, died suddenly Sunday evening, in New York City. He was working at his desk in the Daily News building when he suffered a stroke at 9:00 p.m. He was taken to a hospital, where he died very soon, without having regained consciousness. For several years he has held responsible positions with the New York Daily News.
He was born Sept. 19, 1888 and attended the Fairfield public schools, Parsons academy and Parsons college, from which he was graduated in 1911.
He was the son of Dr. and Mrs. J.V. Bean, a family prominent, at that time, in Parsons college and Presbyterian circles here.
During the years while he was attending Parsons college, and for some time after graduation, Edgar Bean was employed on the Fairfield Daily Journal. His service extended over a period of six or seven years, first as sports editor and later as city editor.
He went from Fairfield to a position on the Des Moines Register in 1912 where he remained for about two years. He then worked on newspapers in Minneapolis, Minn.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; St. Louis, Mo., before going to New York City. He entered the U.S. service, during the World War I while in St. Louis.
Mr. Bean married Miss Mable Green (sic), formerly of Avoca, Ia., whom he met when they were both in newspaper work in St. Louis. His wife is employed by the New York Sun as special writer.
Brief services will be held in the newspaper office of the Daily News, in New York, Wednesday evening. Following this the body will be brought to Fairfield and short services will be held Friday forenoon at the Murray Funeral home in charge of Rev. W. R. Yingling. Burial will be in the family lot, in Evergreen cemetery.
He is survived by his wife and one brother, Dr. James W. Bean of Canton, Ohio and two sisters, Mrs. Frank Byerly of Minneapolis, and Mrs. Hale Greenleaf of Centerville, Iowa.
Wilson Reed of Fairfield is a cousin and Homer Murray also is a relative of Mr. Bean.
******************
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Friday February 27, 1942
Pg. 3
Col. 4
Final Rites For Edger Bean, New York News Executive, Held In Old Home Town
Starting his career on Fairfield’s daily paper he lived a busy life
Final rites for Edgar R. Bean, acting managing editor of the New York News and former Fairfield newspaper man, were held at the Murray Funeral Home at 10:30 this morning. The service was in charge of Rev. W. R. Yingling, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Bean was a member while living in Fairfield.
Appropriate passages of scripture were read and a very personal touch was added in the reading of a letter from an old friend and well known newspaper writer, Denis Morrison of Los Angeles, Calif. The service closed with prayer.
Prof. James P. Moorhead, of Parsons college, a friend of Edgar Bean’s, was pianist. Before and following the address he rendered comforting strains from a large number of the loved and familiar hymns of the church.
The pallbearers were Roy Louden, W. D. Hunt, R. C. Leggett, Harvey E. Gaumer, Arthur F. Greef and Wm. Krapfel of Centerville. Interment was in the Bean family lot, in Evergreen cemetery.
Besides Mrs. Edgar Bean there were among those present from out of town, Dr. James W. Bean pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Canton, Ohio; Mrs. Frank Byerly of Minneapolis, Minn.; Mr. and Mrs. Hale Greenleaf of Centerville; Miss Martha McClure of Mt. Pleasant; Ralph Rogers of Burlington and Dr. Paul A. Reed of Iowa City.
The New York News, February 23, prominently carried an extended article concerning him, in part as follows:
Edgar R. Bean, 53, news editor of The News and one of New York’s best known newspaper executives, was fatally stricken at his desk in the editorial room at 8:15 p.m. yesterday. He died an hour later in the Hospital for Special Surgery, 42nd street at Second Ave.
Ed Bean, as he was known to his co-workers and thousands of other newspapermen all over the country, suffered a stroke while laying out the One Star edition. It was a job he had directed for 18 years.
He was taken to the hospital by members of the staff. His wife, Mabel Greene, reporter and feature writer for the New York Sun, was summoned, and was at his bedside when the end came.
Ed Bean was born in Fairfield, Iowa, Sept. 17, 1888, the son of Dr. John V. Bean, physician and surgeon and Elizabeth Wilson Bean. He attended the public schools and graduated from Parsons college. While in college he worked for the Fairfield Daily Journal and was also correspondent for the Des Moines Register, upon which paper he secured a position, following his graduation. He worked on the Register for two and a half years.
From there he went to the St. Paul Dispatch, then the Oklahoma City Oklahoman. In later years Bean often remarked that he put in almost exactly two and a half years on each of those papers.
He served as a lieutenant in the United States army during the World war. The Armistice came as he was about to be transferred to the Intelligence Service.
He went back to Oklahoma City after the war, but a month or so later joined the staff of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. There he met another reporter, Miss Greene, who later was to become his wife.
Ed Bean came to New York in 1919 and got a job on the Sun. Again, he stayed there two and a half year. Then, on Oct. 5, 1922, he joined The News.
His first job there was as a copyreader. After seven weeks he became the head of the copy desk and later make-up editor. Eighteen years ago he became news editor. For the last two years he had been acting managing editor.
He was married to Miss Greene in the Greenwich Presbyterian church here on May 25, 1929. Miss Greene also is a native of Iowa, having been born in the town of Avoca, the daughter of Leander L. Greene.
The Beans had a home in Westport, Conn., and maintained an apartment in tow at 78 W. 47th street.
****************
Note: the following accompanied the final rites story transcribed above.
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Friday February 27, 1942
Pg. 3
Col. 5
Intimate Appraisal Of Edgar R. Bean
Mrs. Mabel G. Bean, wife of Edgar R. Bean received the following striking tribute, typed by a former newspaper associate, Denis Morrison, upon receiving word of Edgar’s sudden passing. The letter, dated February 24, from Los Angeles, is as follows:
Dear Mabel:
This is the way I would like to have written the story:
Edgar Bean, assistant managing editor of The News, died last night in the way that all good soldiers and good newspapermen would die if they had their choice.
The ink wasn’t dry on the edition, the headlines were hot with news, the world’s greatest city was reaching for its favorite newspaper – his handiwork – when death stole up to him and said, “It’s ‘30’, old timer, and the shift is over.”
It was a storybook way to die. Ed Bean was no storybook managing editor except in the intense and selfless loyalty which he gave to his job; but genuine loyalty of the sort that animated him is so rare and beautiful a thing that even death must have singled him out as one who had merited a very special and singular recognition.
He was one of the small and thinning band of good newspaper men who started The News on its march to the heights. He marched with it and he too reached the heights. He grew during those bustling, busy years, successful years brimming with accomplishment, triumph, and struggle, happy years. As The News grew in power and wealth and prestige, and hence in responsibility to its multiplying army of readers, Ed Bean grew to accept his share of the burden and more. The institution for which he toiled leaned heavily upon him, how heavily only his fellow executives know.
Ed possessed certain qualities that stemmed from the over-generous, loyalties of his soul, and among these were justice, good temper, and tolerance. He was exacting, of himself first and of his subordinates afterward. The innate kindliness which was so essential a part of his nature shone forth in the heat and fury of his daily work and in the pleasant fellowship of his craft in leisure hours.
He had a mighty good time living. He had love, he had comradeship, he had his own self-respect and the respect of others, he had a reverence for duty and for sacred things, he had a great enthusiasm for his job, he had humor and gaiety and laughter and a deep honesty, and with all these things he had too a prodigally abundant capacity for enjoying people and for judging them leniently. Out of those elements the good life is compounded.
The good life and the good death.
A man who has given what Ed gave in this life and who has received what he received lays down his burden well content. It could not be any other way. He left a legacy in which all who knew him will share as long as they live, something radiant and courageous and beneficent. The very young will not understand that this is the richest inheritance a man is privileged to bequeath to his friends; but his friends know it, and that is why the glow that clings around the memory of Ed will not dim.
We are very sad for you, Mabel.
Denis Morrison
(Editor’s Note:- Not only while Edgar Bean was a student in Parsons but both before and after his college work, he was employed under this writer, in a very close and pleasant relationship. The foregoing letter says none too much in praise of his ability and of those fine qualities which survive the grave. It would be difficult, and it is unnecessary, to add anything to the discriminating appraisal made by Mr. Morrison. It is an honest picture of a man who went out from a Christian background and continued to carry every standard high. – D.T.)*
*D.T. is for Dean Taylor, who was an editor of the Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger at that time. He himself died the following year, in 1943, and is also buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Fairfield, Iowa. See: Dean Taylor.
------------------
Son of Dr. John Victor Bean and Elizabeth Wilson Bean.
Husband of Mabel Greene Bean, married May 25, 1929.
------------------
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Monday February 23, 1942
Pg. 1 Col. 5
EDGAR R. BEAN DIES SUDDENLY IN NEW YORK
Former Fairfield man stricken while at work on Daily News
Edgar Rogers Bean, well known former Fairfield resident, died suddenly Sunday evening, in New York City. He was working at his desk in the Daily News building when he suffered a stroke at 9:00 p.m. He was taken to a hospital, where he died very soon, without having regained consciousness. For several years he has held responsible positions with the New York Daily News.
He was born Sept. 19, 1888 and attended the Fairfield public schools, Parsons academy and Parsons college, from which he was graduated in 1911.
He was the son of Dr. and Mrs. J.V. Bean, a family prominent, at that time, in Parsons college and Presbyterian circles here.
During the years while he was attending Parsons college, and for some time after graduation, Edgar Bean was employed on the Fairfield Daily Journal. His service extended over a period of six or seven years, first as sports editor and later as city editor.
He went from Fairfield to a position on the Des Moines Register in 1912 where he remained for about two years. He then worked on newspapers in Minneapolis, Minn.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; St. Louis, Mo., before going to New York City. He entered the U.S. service, during the World War I while in St. Louis.
Mr. Bean married Miss Mable Green (sic), formerly of Avoca, Ia., whom he met when they were both in newspaper work in St. Louis. His wife is employed by the New York Sun as special writer.
Brief services will be held in the newspaper office of the Daily News, in New York, Wednesday evening. Following this the body will be brought to Fairfield and short services will be held Friday forenoon at the Murray Funeral home in charge of Rev. W. R. Yingling. Burial will be in the family lot, in Evergreen cemetery.
He is survived by his wife and one brother, Dr. James W. Bean of Canton, Ohio and two sisters, Mrs. Frank Byerly of Minneapolis, and Mrs. Hale Greenleaf of Centerville, Iowa.
Wilson Reed of Fairfield is a cousin and Homer Murray also is a relative of Mr. Bean.
******************
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Friday February 27, 1942
Pg. 3
Col. 4
Final Rites For Edger Bean, New York News Executive, Held In Old Home Town
Starting his career on Fairfield’s daily paper he lived a busy life
Final rites for Edgar R. Bean, acting managing editor of the New York News and former Fairfield newspaper man, were held at the Murray Funeral Home at 10:30 this morning. The service was in charge of Rev. W. R. Yingling, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Bean was a member while living in Fairfield.
Appropriate passages of scripture were read and a very personal touch was added in the reading of a letter from an old friend and well known newspaper writer, Denis Morrison of Los Angeles, Calif. The service closed with prayer.
Prof. James P. Moorhead, of Parsons college, a friend of Edgar Bean’s, was pianist. Before and following the address he rendered comforting strains from a large number of the loved and familiar hymns of the church.
The pallbearers were Roy Louden, W. D. Hunt, R. C. Leggett, Harvey E. Gaumer, Arthur F. Greef and Wm. Krapfel of Centerville. Interment was in the Bean family lot, in Evergreen cemetery.
Besides Mrs. Edgar Bean there were among those present from out of town, Dr. James W. Bean pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Canton, Ohio; Mrs. Frank Byerly of Minneapolis, Minn.; Mr. and Mrs. Hale Greenleaf of Centerville; Miss Martha McClure of Mt. Pleasant; Ralph Rogers of Burlington and Dr. Paul A. Reed of Iowa City.
The New York News, February 23, prominently carried an extended article concerning him, in part as follows:
Edgar R. Bean, 53, news editor of The News and one of New York’s best known newspaper executives, was fatally stricken at his desk in the editorial room at 8:15 p.m. yesterday. He died an hour later in the Hospital for Special Surgery, 42nd street at Second Ave.
Ed Bean, as he was known to his co-workers and thousands of other newspapermen all over the country, suffered a stroke while laying out the One Star edition. It was a job he had directed for 18 years.
He was taken to the hospital by members of the staff. His wife, Mabel Greene, reporter and feature writer for the New York Sun, was summoned, and was at his bedside when the end came.
Ed Bean was born in Fairfield, Iowa, Sept. 17, 1888, the son of Dr. John V. Bean, physician and surgeon and Elizabeth Wilson Bean. He attended the public schools and graduated from Parsons college. While in college he worked for the Fairfield Daily Journal and was also correspondent for the Des Moines Register, upon which paper he secured a position, following his graduation. He worked on the Register for two and a half years.
From there he went to the St. Paul Dispatch, then the Oklahoma City Oklahoman. In later years Bean often remarked that he put in almost exactly two and a half years on each of those papers.
He served as a lieutenant in the United States army during the World war. The Armistice came as he was about to be transferred to the Intelligence Service.
He went back to Oklahoma City after the war, but a month or so later joined the staff of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. There he met another reporter, Miss Greene, who later was to become his wife.
Ed Bean came to New York in 1919 and got a job on the Sun. Again, he stayed there two and a half year. Then, on Oct. 5, 1922, he joined The News.
His first job there was as a copyreader. After seven weeks he became the head of the copy desk and later make-up editor. Eighteen years ago he became news editor. For the last two years he had been acting managing editor.
He was married to Miss Greene in the Greenwich Presbyterian church here on May 25, 1929. Miss Greene also is a native of Iowa, having been born in the town of Avoca, the daughter of Leander L. Greene.
The Beans had a home in Westport, Conn., and maintained an apartment in tow at 78 W. 47th street.
****************
Note: the following accompanied the final rites story transcribed above.
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Friday February 27, 1942
Pg. 3
Col. 5
Intimate Appraisal Of Edgar R. Bean
Mrs. Mabel G. Bean, wife of Edgar R. Bean received the following striking tribute, typed by a former newspaper associate, Denis Morrison, upon receiving word of Edgar’s sudden passing. The letter, dated February 24, from Los Angeles, is as follows:
Dear Mabel:
This is the way I would like to have written the story:
Edgar Bean, assistant managing editor of The News, died last night in the way that all good soldiers and good newspapermen would die if they had their choice.
The ink wasn’t dry on the edition, the headlines were hot with news, the world’s greatest city was reaching for its favorite newspaper – his handiwork – when death stole up to him and said, “It’s ‘30’, old timer, and the shift is over.”
It was a storybook way to die. Ed Bean was no storybook managing editor except in the intense and selfless loyalty which he gave to his job; but genuine loyalty of the sort that animated him is so rare and beautiful a thing that even death must have singled him out as one who had merited a very special and singular recognition.
He was one of the small and thinning band of good newspaper men who started The News on its march to the heights. He marched with it and he too reached the heights. He grew during those bustling, busy years, successful years brimming with accomplishment, triumph, and struggle, happy years. As The News grew in power and wealth and prestige, and hence in responsibility to its multiplying army of readers, Ed Bean grew to accept his share of the burden and more. The institution for which he toiled leaned heavily upon him, how heavily only his fellow executives know.
Ed possessed certain qualities that stemmed from the over-generous, loyalties of his soul, and among these were justice, good temper, and tolerance. He was exacting, of himself first and of his subordinates afterward. The innate kindliness which was so essential a part of his nature shone forth in the heat and fury of his daily work and in the pleasant fellowship of his craft in leisure hours.
He had a mighty good time living. He had love, he had comradeship, he had his own self-respect and the respect of others, he had a reverence for duty and for sacred things, he had a great enthusiasm for his job, he had humor and gaiety and laughter and a deep honesty, and with all these things he had too a prodigally abundant capacity for enjoying people and for judging them leniently. Out of those elements the good life is compounded.
The good life and the good death.
A man who has given what Ed gave in this life and who has received what he received lays down his burden well content. It could not be any other way. He left a legacy in which all who knew him will share as long as they live, something radiant and courageous and beneficent. The very young will not understand that this is the richest inheritance a man is privileged to bequeath to his friends; but his friends know it, and that is why the glow that clings around the memory of Ed will not dim.
We are very sad for you, Mabel.
Denis Morrison
(Editor’s Note:- Not only while Edgar Bean was a student in Parsons but both before and after his college work, he was employed under this writer, in a very close and pleasant relationship. The foregoing letter says none too much in praise of his ability and of those fine qualities which survive the grave. It would be difficult, and it is unnecessary, to add anything to the discriminating appraisal made by Mr. Morrison. It is an honest picture of a man who went out from a Christian background and continued to carry every standard high. – D.T.)*
*D.T. is for Dean Taylor, who was an editor of the Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger at that time. He himself died the following year, in 1943, and is also buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Fairfield, Iowa. See: Dean Taylor.
Note: this memorial updated July 27, 2015 with corrected DOB and DOD information. A previous cemetery listing inadvertently used the burial date of Feb. 27, 1942 for the death date.
------------------
Son of Dr. John Victor Bean and Elizabeth Wilson Bean.
Husband of Mabel Greene Bean, married May 25, 1929.
------------------
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Monday February 23, 1942
Pg. 1 Col. 5
EDGAR R. BEAN DIES SUDDENLY IN NEW YORK
Former Fairfield man stricken while at work on Daily News
Edgar Rogers Bean, well known former Fairfield resident, died suddenly Sunday evening, in New York City. He was working at his desk in the Daily News building when he suffered a stroke at 9:00 p.m. He was taken to a hospital, where he died very soon, without having regained consciousness. For several years he has held responsible positions with the New York Daily News.
He was born Sept. 19, 1888 and attended the Fairfield public schools, Parsons academy and Parsons college, from which he was graduated in 1911.
He was the son of Dr. and Mrs. J.V. Bean, a family prominent, at that time, in Parsons college and Presbyterian circles here.
During the years while he was attending Parsons college, and for some time after graduation, Edgar Bean was employed on the Fairfield Daily Journal. His service extended over a period of six or seven years, first as sports editor and later as city editor.
He went from Fairfield to a position on the Des Moines Register in 1912 where he remained for about two years. He then worked on newspapers in Minneapolis, Minn.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; St. Louis, Mo., before going to New York City. He entered the U.S. service, during the World War I while in St. Louis.
Mr. Bean married Miss Mable Green (sic), formerly of Avoca, Ia., whom he met when they were both in newspaper work in St. Louis. His wife is employed by the New York Sun as special writer.
Brief services will be held in the newspaper office of the Daily News, in New York, Wednesday evening. Following this the body will be brought to Fairfield and short services will be held Friday forenoon at the Murray Funeral home in charge of Rev. W. R. Yingling. Burial will be in the family lot, in Evergreen cemetery.
He is survived by his wife and one brother, Dr. James W. Bean of Canton, Ohio and two sisters, Mrs. Frank Byerly of Minneapolis, and Mrs. Hale Greenleaf of Centerville, Iowa.
Wilson Reed of Fairfield is a cousin and Homer Murray also is a relative of Mr. Bean.
******************
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Friday February 27, 1942
Pg. 3
Col. 4
Final Rites For Edger Bean, New York News Executive, Held In Old Home Town
Starting his career on Fairfield’s daily paper he lived a busy life
Final rites for Edgar R. Bean, acting managing editor of the New York News and former Fairfield newspaper man, were held at the Murray Funeral Home at 10:30 this morning. The service was in charge of Rev. W. R. Yingling, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Bean was a member while living in Fairfield.
Appropriate passages of scripture were read and a very personal touch was added in the reading of a letter from an old friend and well known newspaper writer, Denis Morrison of Los Angeles, Calif. The service closed with prayer.
Prof. James P. Moorhead, of Parsons college, a friend of Edgar Bean’s, was pianist. Before and following the address he rendered comforting strains from a large number of the loved and familiar hymns of the church.
The pallbearers were Roy Louden, W. D. Hunt, R. C. Leggett, Harvey E. Gaumer, Arthur F. Greef and Wm. Krapfel of Centerville. Interment was in the Bean family lot, in Evergreen cemetery.
Besides Mrs. Edgar Bean there were among those present from out of town, Dr. James W. Bean pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Canton, Ohio; Mrs. Frank Byerly of Minneapolis, Minn.; Mr. and Mrs. Hale Greenleaf of Centerville; Miss Martha McClure of Mt. Pleasant; Ralph Rogers of Burlington and Dr. Paul A. Reed of Iowa City.
The New York News, February 23, prominently carried an extended article concerning him, in part as follows:
Edgar R. Bean, 53, news editor of The News and one of New York’s best known newspaper executives, was fatally stricken at his desk in the editorial room at 8:15 p.m. yesterday. He died an hour later in the Hospital for Special Surgery, 42nd street at Second Ave.
Ed Bean, as he was known to his co-workers and thousands of other newspapermen all over the country, suffered a stroke while laying out the One Star edition. It was a job he had directed for 18 years.
He was taken to the hospital by members of the staff. His wife, Mabel Greene, reporter and feature writer for the New York Sun, was summoned, and was at his bedside when the end came.
Ed Bean was born in Fairfield, Iowa, Sept. 17, 1888, the son of Dr. John V. Bean, physician and surgeon and Elizabeth Wilson Bean. He attended the public schools and graduated from Parsons college. While in college he worked for the Fairfield Daily Journal and was also correspondent for the Des Moines Register, upon which paper he secured a position, following his graduation. He worked on the Register for two and a half years.
From there he went to the St. Paul Dispatch, then the Oklahoma City Oklahoman. In later years Bean often remarked that he put in almost exactly two and a half years on each of those papers.
He served as a lieutenant in the United States army during the World war. The Armistice came as he was about to be transferred to the Intelligence Service.
He went back to Oklahoma City after the war, but a month or so later joined the staff of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. There he met another reporter, Miss Greene, who later was to become his wife.
Ed Bean came to New York in 1919 and got a job on the Sun. Again, he stayed there two and a half year. Then, on Oct. 5, 1922, he joined The News.
His first job there was as a copyreader. After seven weeks he became the head of the copy desk and later make-up editor. Eighteen years ago he became news editor. For the last two years he had been acting managing editor.
He was married to Miss Greene in the Greenwich Presbyterian church here on May 25, 1929. Miss Greene also is a native of Iowa, having been born in the town of Avoca, the daughter of Leander L. Greene.
The Beans had a home in Westport, Conn., and maintained an apartment in tow at 78 W. 47th street.
****************
Note: the following accompanied the final rites story transcribed above.
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Friday February 27, 1942
Pg. 3
Col. 5
Intimate Appraisal Of Edgar R. Bean
Mrs. Mabel G. Bean, wife of Edgar R. Bean received the following striking tribute, typed by a former newspaper associate, Denis Morrison, upon receiving word of Edgar’s sudden passing. The letter, dated February 24, from Los Angeles, is as follows:
Dear Mabel:
This is the way I would like to have written the story:
Edgar Bean, assistant managing editor of The News, died last night in the way that all good soldiers and good newspapermen would die if they had their choice.
The ink wasn’t dry on the edition, the headlines were hot with news, the world’s greatest city was reaching for its favorite newspaper – his handiwork – when death stole up to him and said, “It’s ‘30’, old timer, and the shift is over.”
It was a storybook way to die. Ed Bean was no storybook managing editor except in the intense and selfless loyalty which he gave to his job; but genuine loyalty of the sort that animated him is so rare and beautiful a thing that even death must have singled him out as one who had merited a very special and singular recognition.
He was one of the small and thinning band of good newspaper men who started The News on its march to the heights. He marched with it and he too reached the heights. He grew during those bustling, busy years, successful years brimming with accomplishment, triumph, and struggle, happy years. As The News grew in power and wealth and prestige, and hence in responsibility to its multiplying army of readers, Ed Bean grew to accept his share of the burden and more. The institution for which he toiled leaned heavily upon him, how heavily only his fellow executives know.
Ed possessed certain qualities that stemmed from the over-generous, loyalties of his soul, and among these were justice, good temper, and tolerance. He was exacting, of himself first and of his subordinates afterward. The innate kindliness which was so essential a part of his nature shone forth in the heat and fury of his daily work and in the pleasant fellowship of his craft in leisure hours.
He had a mighty good time living. He had love, he had comradeship, he had his own self-respect and the respect of others, he had a reverence for duty and for sacred things, he had a great enthusiasm for his job, he had humor and gaiety and laughter and a deep honesty, and with all these things he had too a prodigally abundant capacity for enjoying people and for judging them leniently. Out of those elements the good life is compounded.
The good life and the good death.
A man who has given what Ed gave in this life and who has received what he received lays down his burden well content. It could not be any other way. He left a legacy in which all who knew him will share as long as they live, something radiant and courageous and beneficent. The very young will not understand that this is the richest inheritance a man is privileged to bequeath to his friends; but his friends know it, and that is why the glow that clings around the memory of Ed will not dim.
We are very sad for you, Mabel.
Denis Morrison
(Editor’s Note:- Not only while Edgar Bean was a student in Parsons but both before and after his college work, he was employed under this writer, in a very close and pleasant relationship. The foregoing letter says none too much in praise of his ability and of those fine qualities which survive the grave. It would be difficult, and it is unnecessary, to add anything to the discriminating appraisal made by Mr. Morrison. It is an honest picture of a man who went out from a Christian background and continued to carry every standard high. – D.T.)*
*D.T. is for Dean Taylor, who was an editor of the Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger at that time. He himself died the following year, in 1943, and is also buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Fairfield, Iowa. See: Dean Taylor.
------------------
Son of Dr. John Victor Bean and Elizabeth Wilson Bean.
Husband of Mabel Greene Bean, married May 25, 1929.
------------------
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Monday February 23, 1942
Pg. 1 Col. 5
EDGAR R. BEAN DIES SUDDENLY IN NEW YORK
Former Fairfield man stricken while at work on Daily News
Edgar Rogers Bean, well known former Fairfield resident, died suddenly Sunday evening, in New York City. He was working at his desk in the Daily News building when he suffered a stroke at 9:00 p.m. He was taken to a hospital, where he died very soon, without having regained consciousness. For several years he has held responsible positions with the New York Daily News.
He was born Sept. 19, 1888 and attended the Fairfield public schools, Parsons academy and Parsons college, from which he was graduated in 1911.
He was the son of Dr. and Mrs. J.V. Bean, a family prominent, at that time, in Parsons college and Presbyterian circles here.
During the years while he was attending Parsons college, and for some time after graduation, Edgar Bean was employed on the Fairfield Daily Journal. His service extended over a period of six or seven years, first as sports editor and later as city editor.
He went from Fairfield to a position on the Des Moines Register in 1912 where he remained for about two years. He then worked on newspapers in Minneapolis, Minn.; Oklahoma City, Okla.; St. Louis, Mo., before going to New York City. He entered the U.S. service, during the World War I while in St. Louis.
Mr. Bean married Miss Mable Green (sic), formerly of Avoca, Ia., whom he met when they were both in newspaper work in St. Louis. His wife is employed by the New York Sun as special writer.
Brief services will be held in the newspaper office of the Daily News, in New York, Wednesday evening. Following this the body will be brought to Fairfield and short services will be held Friday forenoon at the Murray Funeral home in charge of Rev. W. R. Yingling. Burial will be in the family lot, in Evergreen cemetery.
He is survived by his wife and one brother, Dr. James W. Bean of Canton, Ohio and two sisters, Mrs. Frank Byerly of Minneapolis, and Mrs. Hale Greenleaf of Centerville, Iowa.
Wilson Reed of Fairfield is a cousin and Homer Murray also is a relative of Mr. Bean.
******************
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Friday February 27, 1942
Pg. 3
Col. 4
Final Rites For Edger Bean, New York News Executive, Held In Old Home Town
Starting his career on Fairfield’s daily paper he lived a busy life
Final rites for Edgar R. Bean, acting managing editor of the New York News and former Fairfield newspaper man, were held at the Murray Funeral Home at 10:30 this morning. The service was in charge of Rev. W. R. Yingling, pastor of the First Presbyterian church, of which Mr. Bean was a member while living in Fairfield.
Appropriate passages of scripture were read and a very personal touch was added in the reading of a letter from an old friend and well known newspaper writer, Denis Morrison of Los Angeles, Calif. The service closed with prayer.
Prof. James P. Moorhead, of Parsons college, a friend of Edgar Bean’s, was pianist. Before and following the address he rendered comforting strains from a large number of the loved and familiar hymns of the church.
The pallbearers were Roy Louden, W. D. Hunt, R. C. Leggett, Harvey E. Gaumer, Arthur F. Greef and Wm. Krapfel of Centerville. Interment was in the Bean family lot, in Evergreen cemetery.
Besides Mrs. Edgar Bean there were among those present from out of town, Dr. James W. Bean pastor of the First Presbyterian church, Canton, Ohio; Mrs. Frank Byerly of Minneapolis, Minn.; Mr. and Mrs. Hale Greenleaf of Centerville; Miss Martha McClure of Mt. Pleasant; Ralph Rogers of Burlington and Dr. Paul A. Reed of Iowa City.
The New York News, February 23, prominently carried an extended article concerning him, in part as follows:
Edgar R. Bean, 53, news editor of The News and one of New York’s best known newspaper executives, was fatally stricken at his desk in the editorial room at 8:15 p.m. yesterday. He died an hour later in the Hospital for Special Surgery, 42nd street at Second Ave.
Ed Bean, as he was known to his co-workers and thousands of other newspapermen all over the country, suffered a stroke while laying out the One Star edition. It was a job he had directed for 18 years.
He was taken to the hospital by members of the staff. His wife, Mabel Greene, reporter and feature writer for the New York Sun, was summoned, and was at his bedside when the end came.
Ed Bean was born in Fairfield, Iowa, Sept. 17, 1888, the son of Dr. John V. Bean, physician and surgeon and Elizabeth Wilson Bean. He attended the public schools and graduated from Parsons college. While in college he worked for the Fairfield Daily Journal and was also correspondent for the Des Moines Register, upon which paper he secured a position, following his graduation. He worked on the Register for two and a half years.
From there he went to the St. Paul Dispatch, then the Oklahoma City Oklahoman. In later years Bean often remarked that he put in almost exactly two and a half years on each of those papers.
He served as a lieutenant in the United States army during the World war. The Armistice came as he was about to be transferred to the Intelligence Service.
He went back to Oklahoma City after the war, but a month or so later joined the staff of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. There he met another reporter, Miss Greene, who later was to become his wife.
Ed Bean came to New York in 1919 and got a job on the Sun. Again, he stayed there two and a half year. Then, on Oct. 5, 1922, he joined The News.
His first job there was as a copyreader. After seven weeks he became the head of the copy desk and later make-up editor. Eighteen years ago he became news editor. For the last two years he had been acting managing editor.
He was married to Miss Greene in the Greenwich Presbyterian church here on May 25, 1929. Miss Greene also is a native of Iowa, having been born in the town of Avoca, the daughter of Leander L. Greene.
The Beans had a home in Westport, Conn., and maintained an apartment in tow at 78 W. 47th street.
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Note: the following accompanied the final rites story transcribed above.
Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger
Friday February 27, 1942
Pg. 3
Col. 5
Intimate Appraisal Of Edgar R. Bean
Mrs. Mabel G. Bean, wife of Edgar R. Bean received the following striking tribute, typed by a former newspaper associate, Denis Morrison, upon receiving word of Edgar’s sudden passing. The letter, dated February 24, from Los Angeles, is as follows:
Dear Mabel:
This is the way I would like to have written the story:
Edgar Bean, assistant managing editor of The News, died last night in the way that all good soldiers and good newspapermen would die if they had their choice.
The ink wasn’t dry on the edition, the headlines were hot with news, the world’s greatest city was reaching for its favorite newspaper – his handiwork – when death stole up to him and said, “It’s ‘30’, old timer, and the shift is over.”
It was a storybook way to die. Ed Bean was no storybook managing editor except in the intense and selfless loyalty which he gave to his job; but genuine loyalty of the sort that animated him is so rare and beautiful a thing that even death must have singled him out as one who had merited a very special and singular recognition.
He was one of the small and thinning band of good newspaper men who started The News on its march to the heights. He marched with it and he too reached the heights. He grew during those bustling, busy years, successful years brimming with accomplishment, triumph, and struggle, happy years. As The News grew in power and wealth and prestige, and hence in responsibility to its multiplying army of readers, Ed Bean grew to accept his share of the burden and more. The institution for which he toiled leaned heavily upon him, how heavily only his fellow executives know.
Ed possessed certain qualities that stemmed from the over-generous, loyalties of his soul, and among these were justice, good temper, and tolerance. He was exacting, of himself first and of his subordinates afterward. The innate kindliness which was so essential a part of his nature shone forth in the heat and fury of his daily work and in the pleasant fellowship of his craft in leisure hours.
He had a mighty good time living. He had love, he had comradeship, he had his own self-respect and the respect of others, he had a reverence for duty and for sacred things, he had a great enthusiasm for his job, he had humor and gaiety and laughter and a deep honesty, and with all these things he had too a prodigally abundant capacity for enjoying people and for judging them leniently. Out of those elements the good life is compounded.
The good life and the good death.
A man who has given what Ed gave in this life and who has received what he received lays down his burden well content. It could not be any other way. He left a legacy in which all who knew him will share as long as they live, something radiant and courageous and beneficent. The very young will not understand that this is the richest inheritance a man is privileged to bequeath to his friends; but his friends know it, and that is why the glow that clings around the memory of Ed will not dim.
We are very sad for you, Mabel.
Denis Morrison
(Editor’s Note:- Not only while Edgar Bean was a student in Parsons but both before and after his college work, he was employed under this writer, in a very close and pleasant relationship. The foregoing letter says none too much in praise of his ability and of those fine qualities which survive the grave. It would be difficult, and it is unnecessary, to add anything to the discriminating appraisal made by Mr. Morrison. It is an honest picture of a man who went out from a Christian background and continued to carry every standard high. – D.T.)*
*D.T. is for Dean Taylor, who was an editor of the Fairfield (Ia.) Daily Ledger at that time. He himself died the following year, in 1943, and is also buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Fairfield, Iowa. See: Dean Taylor.
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