Ed Negri Papers

Ed Negri, a 1947 Georgia Tech graduate, spent 41 years as proprietor of Herren's Restaurant on Luckie Street in Atlanta.

Edward John Negri was born in New York on 25 August 1921 to parents Guido and Amalia Negri. Negri's father, who had served in the U.S. Navy in World War I, brought his family to Atlanta during the 1920s. In 1939, after having been manager of the Piedmont Driving Club for several years, Guido Negri bought a half-interest in Herren's Restaurant, which had been established by Charlie Herren earlier in the decade. The elder Negri soon became sole owner of the restaurant. The Negri family lived on Orme Circle in Atlanta.

Edward, Guido's second son, attended Boys' High School in Atlanta and entered Georgia School (now Institute) of Technology in the fall of 1940. During his time at Tech, Ed Negri served as captain of the R.O.T.C. military unit. After his father's untimely death in August 1942 and the onset of World War II, Negri interrupted his studies to start training as a pre-flight aviation cadet in the U.S. Army Air Corps at Keesler Field in Biloxi, Mississippi, in the summer of 1943. He graduated from the primary air base at Oxnard, California, in the spring of 1944, receiving the Mosely Medal for the highest academic grades and the best flying record. At the end of the war, he returned to Atlanta, after having served as a flight instructor for the Army Air Corps at a twin engine school in Marfa, Texas.

Edward Negri married Atlanta native Jane Fuller (1924-2009) in about 1943. The couple had two sons, Stephen and Paul, and a daughter, Ellen. On his return to Atlanta at the end of World War II, Negri resumed his studies at Tech, graduating with a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering in June 1947. After a brief period of work at Delta Heating and Air Conditioning, he took over Herren's Restaurant, which his mother had been operating on her own since his father's death. He remained at Herren's for more than 40 years, until the restaurant closed its doors for the final time in November 1987.

Negri and his wife moved to East Ellijay, Georgia, in the early 1990s. Negri is the author of Herren's - An Atlanta Landmark: Past, Present And Future, published in 2005 by Roswell Publishing Company.

Ed Negri died on April 28, 2013 at the age of 91. He was buried at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs, Georgia.