07/10/2026
Edison is remembered for what he created. His son? For what he refused to let disappear. 🌲
Theodore Edison was born at Glenmont on this day in 1898, the youngest of Thomas Edison's children, who he called his "little laboratory assistant." He inherited his father's inventive streak: an MIT physics degree, 80+ patents, years running R&D for Thomas A. Edison, Inc.
But his lasting legacy isn't a patent at all.
It's Monhegan Island, Maine.
Theodore spent his childhood summers there, in the wilderness off the coast. Decades later, when word spread that the island might be divided up and sold to developers, he acted. Quietly, plot by plot, he began buying up land as it came available, determined to keep it whole.
In 1954, he donated everything he'd purchased to a newly formed trust, the Monhegan Associates, on the condition that it be preserved. That trust still protects roughly three-quarters of the island today, its woods, its headlands, its wildness.
Theodore is buried there now, beside his wife, on the island he spent a lifetime protecting.
Happy birthday, Theodore. A family full of innovation & inspiration! 🌎
Monhegan Associates Inc.
