Edwin Newton Atherton (October 12, 1896 – August 31, 1944) served as a foreign service officer, Bureau of Investigation agent, private investigator, and later, appointed head of the college athletics organization, the

Pacific Coast Conference The Pacific Coast Conference (PCC) was a collegiate athletic conference in the United States which existed from 1915 to 1959. Though the Pac-12 Conference claims the PCC's history as part of its own, with eight of the ten PCC members (includin ...

in 1940.

Biography

Born in Washington, D.C., the son of Edwin J Atherton and Mary Agnes McCarten. Atherton studied law at

Georgetown University Georgetown University is a private university, private Jesuit research university in Washington, D.C., United States. Founded by Bishop John Carroll (archbishop of Baltimore), John Carroll in 1789, it is the oldest Catholic higher education, Ca ...

(1914) for only four months. After leaving Georgetown, he was a clerk in a bank and then entered the consular service (January 1916) where during

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

he served in Genoa,

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

, followed by

Bulgaria Bulgaria, officially the Republic of Bulgaria, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern portion of the Balkans directly south of the Danube river and west of the Black Sea. Bulgaria is bordered by Greece and Turkey t ...

, and

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

. After the war, Atherton served in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

, then resigned from consular duties, March 13, 1925, and served the Department of Justice from 1925 to 1927. He served in New York, Boston, Detroit, Los Angeles and headed the Department of Justice office in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. His service in the BOI (later

FBI The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the domestic Intelligence agency, intelligence and Security agency, security service of the United States and Federal law enforcement in the United States, its principal federal law enforcement ag ...

) was notable for his having worked on the 1924 capture of a neo-revolutionary army of Mexican nationals under the leadership of General Enrique Estrada at Engineer Springs on the California border. He resigned from the BOI in 1927 and started a private investigating firm in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

with another former special agent, Joseph Dunn, called Atherton and Dunn. Atherton's firm was hired to investigate police graft and corruption and wrote the so-called "Atherton Report" on police corruption in the San Francisco Police Department in the late 1930s. He was paid $40,000 to thoroughly investigate the Pacific Coast Conference in 1938. After two years and the submission of his extensive two-million-word report, he was immediately appointed to be High Commissioner of the Pacific Coast Conference in January 1940 to carry out his recommended reforms.

Personal

He was previously married in 1924 to Elma Catheryne Atherton (née Jackson), who divorced him on grounds of cruelty in October 1941. His son Edwin Jr. was 12 years old at the time. After a month-long hospitalization for a gall bladder illness in August 1944, Atherton died at age 47 at Santa Monica Hospital in

Santa Monica, California Santa Monica (; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Santa Mónica'') is a city in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, situated along Santa Monica Bay on California's South Coast (California), South Coast. Santa Monica's 2020 United Sta ...

. Atherton was survived by his widow, Anzonetta Atherton, whom he had married in October 1942 in Las Vegas. Anzonetta Collison (née Moore), a playwright from Mason City, Iowa was the widow of Wilson Collison.

References

1896 births 1944 deaths Pacific Coast Conference commissioners Federal Bureau of Investigation agents 20th-century people from Washington, D.C. American anti-corruption activists People from Santa Monica, California {{US-law-enforcement-bio-stub