Edward was born January 20, 1937 to Authur M. and Edna C. Griffen in South Bend, Indiana. He grew up in the Edwardsburg, Michigan area where he graduated from Edwardsburg High School in 1955.  After High School he studied at Western Michigan University and at the South Bend Campus of Indiana University.  On January 25, 1958, in Edwardsburg, Michigan, he married Rita Mae Weber, a daughter of Raymond and Marie Weber of Brookville, Indiana. On Wednesday, June 26, 2024 at the age of 87, Edward passed away in Connersville, Indiana.

In 1966 Ed was working for the Kawneer Company in Niles, Michigan that was a leader in design and production of aluminum framed curtain walls and store fronts at that time.  Kawneer was then owned by American Metal Climax, Inc. (AMEX), a conglomerate involved in various mining, metals and energy operations.  AMEX was expanding its operations through purchases of smaller businesses in a variety of markets.  They were in the process of purchasing a company in Australia that was producing products similar to those produced by Kawneer.  Selecting key employees of Kawneer to help manage the newly purchased Australian operation seemed to make sense.  Ed was selected as one of those who would be moved to Australia to help integrate this new operation into the AMEX world-wide family.  His contract with AMEX for this assignment was for a 2-year period with a possible additional 2-year period at their descension.  At the end of this assignment, he was guaranteed a move back to the US and a position at least equivalent to the one he had held at Kawneer before accepting this assignment.

During the first 2-years of his contract, AMEX management decided to concentrate their business in other areas and sold the Australian operation to local interests.  Part of the sales agreement was that certain AMEX employees, Including Ed, would stay and help the new owners learn their new business.  In the fall of 1969 AMEX merged with a coal mining company located in southwestern Indiana to eventually become the third largest producer of coal in the United States. By the end of Ed's second 2-year contract AMEX was heavily concentrating on coal mining and the job AMEX had to offer Ed for his return to the US was management of a coal mine in West Virginia.  However, the Australian company offered Ed a chance to become an employee of their company continuing what he had been doing as an AMEX employee and he accepted that offer.  This arrangement continued for several years until the Australian economy went into recession.  At that time, Australian law prohibited a company from laying off an Australian Citizen if they had non-citizens on their payroll, so Ed was one of the first to be out the door.

One area of the Australian economy that soon began recovering was construction of retail spaces in shopping malls.  With the cooperation of an Australian friend, who was in the home construction and remodeling business, Ed started a business of finishing out these spaces.  This went quite well for a number of years and his business grew, he expanded to manufacture more of the fixtures used in completing these projects.  In the 1990's the Australian economy again went into recession and Ed's business failed, forcing him into retirement.

He and Rita decided to make one last trip back to the US and tour the country before returning home to Australia to live out their natural lives.  However, while touring the US and visiting Rita's family and old friends in Brookville, they decided that the Brookville area was a more desirable area to finish out their lives.  With the help of Rita's sister, Mary Graf and her husband Allen, arrangements were made to purchase a piece of land west of town in April of 2000 and plans to construct a house in 2001.  They completed the construction and moved into the house late in 2001.  Rita passed due to cancer in May of 2002.

Ed is survived by his son Marc and granddaughter Clair, both of whom live in Australia.  Also surviving him are brothers James of California, Richard (Dick) of Elkhart Indiana, Sisters, Kathryn Hall and Margaret Coffey both of Michigan and many nieces and nephews as well as Rita's brother Ray of Virginia and sister Mary Graf of Cedar Grove.  He was preceded in death by his brother Aurthur Jr. of Elkhart, Indiana, and sisters Isabell Miller of Washington state and Shirley Goodhew of Granger, Indiana.