Edward A. Mechling, who was assistant general manager of the General Chemical Co. at the time of his death, March 5, 1938, was a long-time member of the Lehigh County Historical Society, thus manifesting his pride in the seat of his birth, for lie was born in Hosensack on January 31, 1878.

Mr. Mechling's sudden death from a heart attack occurred at home in Moorestown, N. J. where for many years he conducted a model fruit farm and achieved such prominence in the field of agriculture and horticulture that for three years he was a member of the State Board of Agriculture of New Jersey and for sonic time served as the president of the New Jersey Horticultural Society.

Mr. Mechling was a son of William Harrison and Sarah Schreiber Mechling and as a boy attended Germantown Academy. Entering the University of Pennsylvania he studied law and was admitted to the bar.

During his career at Penn he was a member of the cross-country and track teams and also managed the baseball and football teams of the university, he was editor of the Pennsylvanian, spoon man of his class and a member of the Psi Upsilon fraternity. In 1900 he was a member of the American Olympic track team, which competed in Paris.

After but a brief career in the law his health failed and he retired to a farm at Moorestown near Camden. After regaining his health he went into business with the firm of Mechling Bros., of Philadelphia, manufacturers of chemicals. The firm had been founded by his father and uncle in 1869. In this business he rose to the positions of vice president and treasurer, which he held for 28 years, in association with his brother Benjamin. The two men comprised the firm when it was sold to the General Chemical Company and became known as the Mechling Bros. division of that corporation. He was the assistant general manager of the big concern at his death.

As a manufacturer and horticulturist he did much to develop insecticides and sprays and he is credited with the discovery that arsenate of lead, mixed with soap, would protect plants and fruits from the Japanese beetle, a pest which had its American origin at Riverton, N. J.

Mr. Mechling was noted for his philanthropic and civic activities. His work for boys brought him the award of the Silver Beaver by the Boy Scotts. He was named by the Governor of New Jersey as a member of the New Jersey Leisure Times Activities Commission and in Moorestown he served as a member of the City Recreation Commission.

He was superintendent of the Presbyterian Sunday-school in Moorestown, was a member of the Moorestown Lodge of Masons and also held membership in the Union League, Philadelphia, the Pine Valley Country and the Moorestown Field clubs. He was a past president of the Camden Rotary Club and of the Camden County Chamber of Commerce.

At his death he was survived by his widow Edith Elliott Mechling, a former Germantown girl; two sons, William Harrison 2nd and James Elliott and his brother Benjamin Mechling, who maintains the old homestead of the Mechling family in Hosensack as a summer home, and there operates a model dairy farm.