Edward D. "Ted" Jones

Edward David "Ted" Jones, Jr. (December 18, 1925  – October 3, 1990), the son of the founder of Edward Jones Investments, later ran the firm and built its signature small town brokerage system. He devoted his last years along with his wife Pat Jones to establishing the Katy Trail State Park and the Prairie Fork Conservation Area in Missouri.

Edward D. "Ted" Jones, former CEO, Edward Jones Investments

Early life and education

Jones was born in St. Louis, Missouri and spent much of his youth on his family’s farm in Williamsburg, Missouri.^[1][2] Following graduation from the Taylor School in 1943, Jones enlisted in the Merchant Marines during World War II, then served in the United States Army in 1946 before returning to the University of Missouri in 1947 to study agriculture.^[3]

After one year of study, Jones was sent to New York City where he worked as a page on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. He later worked at Josephthal & Co., an organization that served as Edward D. Jones & Co.’s New York correspondent.^[4]He returned to St. Louis in 1948 to work for his father Edward D. Jones.^[5]

In 1968, Ted succeeded his father to become Edward Jones Investments’ second managing partner until 1980. During his tenure, the firm expanded to over 300 branch offices.^[6][7]

Philosophy

While conducting business in rural Missouri and Illinois, Jones proposed that the company begin opening offices outside of St. Louis.^[8] He subsequently instituted the firm's branch office business model and oversaw the opening of the first one-person branch office in Mexico, Missouri.^[9] Jones’ expansion philosophy focused on towns of 20,000 to 35,000 people, many of which did not have access to personal brokers selling mutual funds, unit trusts and tax-free bonds.^[10]

Differing from other firms that went public, Jones kept the company a privately owned partnership, only allowing employees to purchase shares in the company instead of opening stock purchases to the general public.^[11]

Personal life

In the last 10 years of his life, he donated $2.2 million for Missouri to acquire property along 200 miles of abandoned Missouri–Kansas–Texas Railroad rail tracks to form a bicycle path for the Katy Trail State Park.^[12][13] The eastern terminus of the park is the confluence of the Missouri River and Mississippi River.^[14] In 2004 the park at the confluence was named Edward "Ted" and Pat Jones-Confluence Point State Park in honor of Jones and his wife.^[15]

In 2015 Edward "Ted" Jones, Jr. was inducted into the "Hall of Famous Missourians" during a ceremony at the state capitol.^[16]

References

1. "Edward "Ted" & Hilda "Pat" Jones". State Historical Society of Missouri. Retrieved September 27, 2024. Edward "Ted" Jones Jr. was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on December 18, 1925, to Edward D. Jones Sr. and Ursula Griesedieck
2. "Stock Broker Edward D. Jones Dies Of Cancer At Age 64". Macon Chronicle Herald. October 4, 1990. Jones lived on an 800-acre farm near Williamsburg in Callaway County.
3. "Edward "Ted" & Hilda "Pat" Jones". State Historical Society of Missouri. Retrieved September 27, 2024. After graduating from the Taylor School in St. Louis in 1943, Ted took summer courses at the University of Missouri in Columbia before enlisting in the US Merchant Marines during World War II. As the war drew to a close, he enlisted in the US Army through 1946. Upon his honorable discharge, Ted went back to the University of Missouri, intending to major in agriculture.
4. Shook, Robert (2021). The Business of America is Business. Phaidon Press. p. 292. ISBN 1838664130. The senior Jones wanted his son to pursue a career in the securities industry, not farming. He sent Ted to New York in 1947 to take a job as a page on the floor of the NYSE. During his time in New York, Ted also worked at Josephthal & Co., Edward D. Jones & Co.'s New York correspondent, where he held several low-level positions.
5. Matthews, Curt (October 31, 1967). "Broker Says Current Speculation is Numbers Game Without Values". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved September 27, 2024. It was not until Jones's son, Edward D. Jones Jr., returned from duty after World War II and entered his father's business that the company began establishing branch offices on 'Main Street, USA.'…The younger Jones, 42, a graduate of the University of Missouri, set up an office in Mexico, MO in 1948. Since then he has directed expansion of the firm's small town branch operations into a high volume business.
6. Shook, Robert (2021). The Business of America is Business. Phaidon Press. p. 297. ISBN 1838664130. In 1968, after twenty years as a financial advisor, Ted, then 42 years of age, succeeded his father and became the firm's second managing partner.
7. Reddig, William (February 21, 1982). "EDWARD D. JONES, COUNTRY BROKER". The New York Times. Retrieved September 27, 2024. Two years ago, he turned the direction of the company over to John W. Bachmann, 43, who had run the Columbia, Mo., office for seven years…Firms are sometimes also measured by how many offices they have, and there, Jones, with 377 now, is second only to Merrill Lynch.
8. "Edward D. jones & Co. Corporate Profile". The Hermitage Index. January 22, 1987. While working a territory in rural Missouri and Illinois he began experimenting with the concept of locating offices outside of St. Louis.
9. "Clipped From St. Louis Post-Dispatch". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. 1967-10-31. p. 20. Retrieved 2020-09-09.
10. Ipsen, Erik (June 1, 1985). "The best little wire house in small town America". Institutional_Investor_(magazine). Central to Jones's growth potential is that its core markets – towns of 20,000 to 35,000 people – remain largely untapped by other retail firms. But in most places where Jones establishes its offices, people have never before had easy, direct access to a personal broker selling the kinds of financial products in which Jones specializes… What Edward D. Jones sells with a vengeance are mutual funds, cautiously managed funds such as those offered by Putnam Advisory Co. and American Funds Service Co. They bring in fully 35 percent of the firm's revenues. Unit trusts, tax-free bonds and debt issues underwritten by Jones account for perhaps 30 percent; limited real estate partnerships about 10 percent; taxable bonds 5 percent; and interest from margin accounts - whose use the firm discourages - a little less than 5 percent.
11. Shook, Robert (2021). The Business of America is Business. Phaidon Press. p. 297. ISBN 1838664130. Ted maintained that the firm's owners should work for the company and even denied his two sisters a share because they did not work there. By being privately owned, the firm's management can make decisions based on what is best for its clients, rather than having to concern themselves with meeting Wall Street earnings targets or being held accountable to shareholders. To this day, the firm's parent company, The Jones Financial Companies, L.L.L.P., has remained a limited liability limited partnership, owned only by its associates and retired associates. It is not publicly traded.
12. Conger, Phil (June 19, 1991). "Take a ride on Missouri's 'Katy Trail'". Bethany Republican-Clipper. Retrieved May 23, 2024. Boosted by a $2 million gift from the late Missouri philanthropist Edward D. "Ted" Jones Jr, the Missouri Department of Natural Resources has acquired the 200-mile-right-of-way of the old 'Katy' line and has begin developing two pilot trail projects, including the 37-mile segment at Rocheport.
13. Wagman, Jake (April 20, 2011). "A bridge naming, this time without the fracas". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved May 23, 2024. "The new bicycle and pedestrian lane on the Missouri River bridge near the state Capitol has been named for Pat Jones, whose late husband, Ted Jones, was the managing partner of Edward Jones Investments. (His father, EdwardD. Jones, founded the St. Louis company.) The lane, on the northbound side, will make it easier for bikers and hikers to travel between Jefferson City and the Katy Trail.
14. "EDWARD "TED" AND PAT JONES–CONFLUENCE POINT STATE PARK". Missouri Life Magazine. Retrieved May 23, 2024. A drone view of the confluence shows the waters of America's two great rivers as they begin to mingle. The Mississippi is on the right, and the Missouri is on the left. The point is a rocky spit of land…The park is named in honor of Edward "Ted" Jones and his wife Pat, who donated funds for the establishment of Katy Trail State Park. The Edward "Ted" and Pat Jones–Confluence Point State Park was dedicated on Sunday, May 9, 2004, with a replica pirogue and Lewis and Clark expedition reenactors present for the event. This was most appropriate, as that great Voyage of Discovery began here at the confluence on May 14, 1804.
15. "EDWARD "TED" AND PAT JONES–CONFLUENCE POINT STATE PARK". Missouri Life Magazine. Retrieved May 23, 2024. The park is named in honor of Edward "Ted" Jones and his wife Pat, who donated funds for the establishment of Katy Trail State Park. The Edward "Ted" and Pat Jones–Confluence Point State Park was dedicated on Sunday, May 9, 2004, with a replica pirogue and Lewis and Clark expedition reenactors present for the event. This was most appropriate, as that great Voyage of Discovery began here at the confluence on May 14, 1804.
16. "Edward 'Ted' Jones honored at Missouri Capitol". The Rolla Daily News. Associated Press. Retrieved 2017-09-12.

• Edward D. "Ted" Jones biography