Resident, family celebrates 100

Longtime Newport Beach resident Ed Benson turns 100 today.

“I was fortunate the good Lord was good to me and gave me good health,” Benson said.

His family and friends will mark the day with a party in his honor at a Chinese restaurant in Costa Mesa today.

The eldest of three children, Benson was born Jan. 9, 1910, in Sweden in a small village in the county of Skane.

When Benson was 3, his family immigrated to the United States, traveling by ship to Ellis Island in New York. The family settled in Brooklyn for a short period before moving to Southern California.

Benson graduated from Hollywood High School and went straight to work.

His father died unexpectedly when Benson was 19, and he had to support his mother and siblings.

Benson landed a job at an architectural firm, where he worked his way up through the ranks before retiring as a general manager and vice president of the company in 1975.

A Newport Beach resident of 39 years, Benson lives at Newport Beach Plaza Retirement Community.

— Brianna Bailey