# Who was Edmund Fitzgerald?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-edmund-fitzgerald/988613>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 15, 2023, 5:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-edmund-fitzgerald/988613 "2023-08-15T17:44:09Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2023, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-edmund-fitzgerald/988613/41 "2023-08-26T07:05:05Z")

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> [@Bullitt](#):
>
> 29 lives were lost. The church bell chimed ’til it rang 29 times.

If you want the ultimate nitpick, the lyric is:

> [@](#):
>
> The church bell chimed 'til it rang twenty-nine times  
> For each man on the Edmund Fitzgerald

If there were 29 people on board, that that would be 841 total chimes.

> [@thelurkinghorror](#):
>
> Pristina, Kosovo is the place to look for all things Clinton, including a statue of him on a boulevard named after him. Also a beauty salon and a cafe while we’re naming things after him.

There are Franklin D. Roosevelt Avenue and Franklin D. Roosevelt metro station in Paris, although they were named in 1946, which was after his death.

> [@snowthx](#):
>
> John Hancock was the president of the company named after him(self)?

Pretty flamboyant signature for an insurance man.

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**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2023, 8:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-edmund-fitzgerald/988613/42 "2023-08-26T08:41:08Z")

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> [@Robot\_Arm](#):
>
> > [@snowthx](#):
> >
> > John Hancock was the president of the company named after him(self)?
> 
> Pretty flamboyant signature for an insurance man.

The guy who made the big signature on the DoI was not an insurance man. He was in the import-export business.

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**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-edmund-fitzgerald/988613/43 "2023-08-28T22:31:53Z")

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I was making an obscure pop culture reference.

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**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [August 28, 2023, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/who-was-edmund-fitzgerald/988613/44 "2023-08-28T22:44:34Z")

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Come to think of it, Cleveland has another big bulk freighter, the Mather, that’s now a museum ship. And it, too, was named after the CEO of the company that owned it.

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