Edwin Fariman Russell as born on July 15, 1914 in Elizabeth, New Jersey one of five children born to Lucius Thomas Russell (1871–1948) and Marian Cronin. His father, who was born in Mississippi, was a newspaper publisher who founded The Newark Star, which became The Star-Ledger. Russell was a 1937 graduate of Princeton University and was an American newspaper publisher who joined the Royal Navy to fight Germany before the United States entered World War II.
In 1940, he was among those sued by the German-American Bund Auxiliary Inc. for libel after the publication in The Newark Ledger of an article charging that the group was involved with the National-Socialist Party in Germany and operated training camps for Nazi sympathizers in this country. The lawsuit was dismissed after the plaintiffs failed to appear in court.
A year later, Russell enlisted in the Royal Navy Volunteer Reserve. In the Autumn of 1941, he was summoned for active duty in the British Royal Navy and, after a brief tour of duty in Canadian waters, attended the Royal Naval College, Greenwich, and served aboard the British cruiser Norfolk as gunnery officer. He met his first wife, Lady Mary, in Scotland while recovering from an injury he received on the job. In 1943, he transferred to the United States Navy upon the U.S.'s entry into the War, and eventually joined the staff of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower.
After World War II, Mr. Russell returned to the newspaper business and in 1947 purchased two newspapers in Harrisburg, The Patriot and The Evening News, for $2.5 million. He subsequently bought another area paper, The Harrisburg Telegraph. Eventually, the papers were combined into The Patriot News. Russell was also active in politics and served in 1952 as chairman of the Pennsylvania Citizens-for-Eisenhower committee, the year Mr. Eisenhower won the presidency. In the 1960's, Russell held several positions with Condé Nast Publications Inc., the publishing organization controlled by Samuel I. Newhouse. Among the positions Mr. Russell held was publisher of Vogue magazine.
In 1966, Russell and his first wife were divorced. He subsequently married Iris Smith Van Ingen Paine. That marriage ended in divorce and his second wife is among his survivors. Russell died at his home on Hobe Sound, Florida on December 22, 2001 at the age of 87. His ashes were scattered by his wife, children, and grandchildren on Omaha Beach, in Normandy, France.
Source of information: https://en.wikipedia.org, www.findagrave.com