Edward A. Preisendanz
Edward Adam Preisendanz was the son of Rudolph and Annie Preisendanz and was born in Camden, New Jersey, on November 14, 1883. His father, Rudolph Preisendanz Sr., worked in the wagon-building trade: he first worked for Jacob Rettberg, then opened his own shop, and later bought Rettberg's West Jersey Wagon Works at 15–17 Market Street. The business grew to 15–21 Market Street, building and repairing both light and heavy wagons for many Camden businesses, and it kept a lumber and storage yard across the street at 14 Market Street. Rudolph later acquired Rettberg's wagon showroom at the northwest corner of Delaware Avenue and Market Street, which served like a car dealership.
When Edward was born the family lived at 122 Elm Street; by 1887–1888 they had moved to 109 Linden Street while Rudolph's business was at 111 Front Street. Another son, Rudolph Jr. (called Rud), was born in 1890 and the family was still at 109 Linden Street then. By around 1900 the family had moved to 211 Pearl Street. The wagon business did well, but Rudolph Sr. had heart trouble: he suffered a near-fatal attack around Christmas 1907, recovered briefly, and then died of a heart attack on January 28, 1908.
After their father's death, Edward and his brother Rudolph Jr. took over the business. In 1910 Mrs. Preisendanz, daughter Henrietta, and Rud Jr. were still living at 211 Pearl Street. Edward had married in 1907, and at the time of the 1910 Census he and his wife Claudia lived at 215 Elm Street; their daughter Annie was born in 1910. The house at 215 Elm Street had been damaged when a tree fell during a tornado that hit Camden on April 2, 1903, and the family remained at that address at least until 1914.
Edward registered for the draft in September 1918; at that time he and Claudia were living at 636 Penn Street, across from prominent Camden attorney Howard M. Cooper, and they lived on Penn Street through at least 1927. By 1929 Edward, his family, and his widowed mother had moved to 1381 Kenwood Avenue in the Parkside neighborhood. By 1917 the family business had moved to 34–44 North 5th Street, a property later taken for the construction of City Hall and turned into the park known as Roosevelt Plaza.
The business, then called Rudolph Preisendanz Sons and run by Rud Preisendanz Jr., later moved to 1706–1716 Federal Street in East Camden, where it made truck bodies; that site had been an automobile dealership as late as 1929. In the 1920s Edward and his brother Rud joined Lee J. Gill, a contractor from Merchantville, to form the Gillanz Company, a real estate firm with an office at 4 North 2nd Street. Both brothers ran the family business through 1930, helped with the fundraising drive that led to building the Walt Whitman Hotel, and followed their father's civic example by joining the Camden Lodge of Elks; Edward was also a charter member of Camden's Rotary Club.
In 1930 the brothers sold the body business to longtime employee Robert Becker and then started the Broadcast Advertising Company, which in the 1930s leased the city-owned radio station WCAM. Edward Preisendanz died suddenly on October 6, 1933, at age 49; newspapers reported he had been stricken with what they called acute indigestion. He was survived by his daughter Anna, his mother Mrs. Anna C. Preisendanz, and his brother Rud Jr. By January 1938 Rud Preisendanz Jr. had passed away, and by 1947 the body works had closed and a Food Fair grocery store stood at 1706–1716 Federal Street.