After graduating from Yale, Corning served as an executive at the Ludlum Steel Company in Watervliet, New York, and became its President in 1910. He was also an officer of the Albany Felt Company, and served on the board of directors of several Albany banks. Corning was also a gentleman farmer, and bred prize winning horses, sheep and cows. In addition, he was a dog breeder, and became known for his champion Irish wolfhounds.
Political career
In the years immediately after World War I, Corning collaborated with Daniel P. O'Connell to create a Democratic organization in Albany that could wrest control of the city from the Republican organization run by William Barnes Jr.; their strategy was to run wealthy non-ethnic Protestants like Edwin Corning, William Stormont Hackett, Parker Corning, and Erastus Corning 2nd for major offices including mayor and Congressman to enhance the respectability and credibility of a Democratic organization run by working classIrish-American, Catholic figures like O'Connell. Corning became chairman of the Albany County Democratic Committee in 1912 and chairman of the county committee's executive committee in 1919. In the 1921 contest for mayor, the O'Connell/Corning organization succeeded in electing Hackett, the beginning of Democratic control of city hall that has remained in place ever since. Corning was Chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee from 1926 to 1928. He was Lieutenant Governor of New York from 1927 to 1928, elected on the Democratic ticket with Governor Alfred E. Smith in 1926. In 1928, when Smith planned to run for President, the Albany Democratic organization intended to run Hackett for governor. After Hackett's death in a car accident, Corning considered making the campaign, but declined because of ill health. After his term as lieutenant governor he retired from his business and political interests.
Personal life
On November 25, 1908, he married Louise Maxwell, who was born to American parents in Cawnpore, India, where her father was serving as a missionary. Together, Louise and Edwin were the parents of:
Erastus Corning 2nd, who served as Mayor of Albany for over 40 years.
Harriet Corning, who married Wharton Sinkle Jr. in 1937. She later married Samuel E. Ewing.
Edwin Corning Jr., who was serving in the New York State Assembly when he was involved in a 1959 car accident. He resigned his Assembly seat, and died without recovering fully.
