Edward Kramer Thompson

Who was Edward Kramer Thompson?

Edward Kramer Thompson was an American writer and editor. He was the editor of LIFE from its early days as a weekly and was the founding editor of Smithsonian Magazine.

Thompson was born in St. Thomas, North Dakota to Edward T. Thompson, a dry goods business proprietor and local banker. After finishing high school at 15, he went with his mother to Grand Forks, North Dakota, at the age of 16 to begin his studies at the University of North Dakota.

His first wife was Marguerite Maxam, from Montana, who he married in 1928. The first of his two sons, Edward T. Thompson would become the editor of Reader's Digest. He would move to Milwaukee, Wisconsin with his family in 1929 to work for the Milwaukee Journal where he would remain until 1937.