Edward Norton was raised in Columbia, Maryland, a city that was designed by his very own grandfather, James Rouse (pictured above). James, his mother’s father, was a businessman and real estate developer with pioneering ideas who, unlike most in his field, sought to use his knowledge to improve civic life. He is said to have proliferated the concept of shopping malls across suburban U.S., a structure he envisioned as a modernized version of the town square.
“He saw opportunity in parts of city centers that had really been essentially relegated to being pockets of true decay,” Edward said on Terry Gross’ “Fresh Air” in 2019. James himself already came from money. His father, Willard Goldsmith Rouse, was himself a lawyer and Johns Hopkins University graduate who made a profitable career as a canned goods broker. Willard became involved in local politics as a member of the Democratic Party, though he never held a public office. In 1904, he helped establish the National Canners Associated in 1904.
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But Edward is equally well-connected through the other side of his family. His father, Edward Norton Sr., is a renowned Harvard-educated lawyer who served as a federal prosecutor during the Jimmy Carter administration. The elder Norton, a Vietnam war captain, moved onto the private sector, where he applied his legal expertise to environment conservation causes. But the wealth and connections of Edward’s family weren’t developed in the 20th century — they’re nearly as old as the United States itself.
