Edward Kidder Graham, Jr., educator and college administrator, was born in Chapel Hill, the son of E. K. Graham, president of The University of North Carolina, and of Susan Williams Moses Graham. Orphaned at the age of seven, he was raised in the family of his uncle by marriage, Louis Graves, founder and editor of the Chapel Hill Weekly. Graham attended the Chapel Hill public schools, the Asheville School, and Woodberry Forest School in Virginia. He received A.B. (1933) and A.M. (1934) degrees from The University of North Carolina. He earned a Ph.D. in medieval history from Cornell University in 1938.

At Washington University, St. Louis, Mo., from 1947 to 1950, he was successively dean of students, assistant dean of the faculty, and dean of the faculty. In 1950, he was appointed chancellor of the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, where he remained for six years. From 1956 to 1960 he was dean of the College of Liberal Arts, dean of the College of General Education, and acting dean of the Graduate School at Boston University. He left to become vice-chancellor and dean of the faculty at Denver University. In 1963, Graham was named president of the College Center of Finger Lakes, an organization consisting of seven colleges in northern New York State. Later he was dean of the faculty at Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, N.Y. In semiretirement, while pursuing a personal interest in creative writing, he served as consultant for Hampton (Va.) Institute and for New York State University at Albany.

Graham was a president of the Association for Higher Education, a member of the national selection committee for Fulbright awards (1953), a consultant for the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare (1953), and an adviser for the National Student Association (1954–56).