Edward Gaylord Howell was born in 1898 to Edward Brodie Howell, an automotive engineer with I.N. Neumann & Sons in New Haven, and Mary Frances Bibby Howell. Both his parents were from North Carolina. Howell graduated from New Haven High School (now Hillhouse High School), then entered Yale College. At Yale, he was a member of ROTC and the Field Artillery Corps of the Yale Student Army Training Corps (SATC) during World War I. He lived with his family at 8 Garden Street in New Haven.
Howell went on to receive a medical degree from Howard University and began a long career as a physician in New Brunswick, New Jersey. He was noted for his role as “family doctor” to many New Brunswick families, and for his skill in treating patients with alcoholism, informed by his personal experience of alcoholism and long-term recovery.
In 1924, Howell married Christine Moore, an entrepreneur, cosmetic scientist, and founder of the company Christine Cosmetics. He was a member of Beta Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha at Howard, and in 1926, he was a founding member of the Alpha Alpha Lambda chapter. Howell died in 1971 in New Jersey.
Image citation: Yale College Class of 1920 class book, Yale University Library