Legacy

Troubled by diabetes and stomach ailments for many years, Edisons health declined and he died at West Orange, N.J. on October 18, 1931. Crowds lined up for blocks to pass by his coffin in the labs library. President Herbert Hoover requested a minute of silenceand darknessto honor the great inventor and at 10 p.m. on October 22, 1931, people around the United States turned off their electric lights.Thomas Alva Edison, the Wizard of Menlo Park, never stopped inventing. At the end of his life, he had 1,093 patents to his name. To this day, no one has topped his record.