EDMUND WOOD BOOTH

(1866-1927)

Number three son of Henry Wood & Clara Gagnier Booth and the son who was perhaps closest to his father henry Wood Booth, along with oldest brother Charles, who lived with his parents having suffering a severe closed head brain injury as a boy. I base this statement on the extensive correspondence between Edmund and his father in the family archives held in the collection of the Bentley (Univ of Mich) Library in Ann Arbor which relate to Edmunds role as publisher of the Grand Rapids newspaper.

Edmund was also one of the most religious children of Henry Wood Booth. He spent 14 years as the Executive Secretary of the YMCA in both New York City and Albany and was in charge of both administration and fund raising. He resigned this important post following his disillusionment with the YMCA movement when it drifted away from Christian education toward being a social-athletic association. He was appointed Editor and Publisher of the Grand Rapids Press by George Booth in 1906. As publisher of the Grand Rapids Press, Edmund led the effort to found the GRAND RAPIDS ART MUSEUM in 1910.
Edmund also in 1922 helped found the American Society of News Editors, which in 2019 merged with the Associated Press Media editors to form the News Leaders Association.

Edmund’s daughter and eldest child ESTHER BOOTH, know in the family as “Aunt”
Esther, never married but became an important community leader. Esther was President of the Grand Rapids Art Museum and its Acting Director during the depression years of the 1930’s. Esther was also a significant shareholder in Booth Newspapers.

DAVID BOOTH COOPER, Edmund Booth’s grandson by his daughter Dorothy, had a distinguished newspaper career becoming the Associate Editor of Knight Newspaper’s Akron Beacon Journal.