Edward A. Jardim was born in Newark, New Jersey, in 1932. He resided for most of his early years on Ferry Street in the city's Ironbound district, where his father published a Portuguese-language weekly newspaper, the Luso-Americano. He graduated from East Side High School in 1950 and studied journalism at Temple University in Philadelphia, with time out for service in the U.S. Army. Mr. Jardim has had a long editorial career at a number of publications, including the New York Daily News and other journals. He and his wife, the former Joy Menza - her grandparents were among the earliest Italian immigrants to settle in the Ironbound - are longtime residents of New Jersey's Long Hill Township, where they raised their six children.