Ed Paine's birth in Sacramento in 1890 was the beginning of a lifetime of association with and service to the livestock industry. He was a pony boy at the California State Fair in 1901 when his father, Charles W. Paine, began his thirty-five years as director and manager of the State Fair. Ed later attended the University of California at Davis.

During World War I he was a stable sergeant in the Cavalry. From 1921 to 1946 he was a salesman for meat paking firms in the Sacramento area. Then in 1946 Ed returned to the California State Fair, serving first as Exhibit Supervisor and finally as Assistant Manager. He was directly in charge of the livestock, junior, horse show, and horse racing divisions. Upon his retirement in 1960, a banquet in his honor was attended by four hundred eighty-six friends.

Ed spent the last five years of his life as management assistant for the Western Fairs Association. He was a quiet, kind, friendly, and loyal gentleman. His death on May 10, 1965, and that of his younger brother, Tevis, later the same year, ended a saga of the California fair industry - sixty-four years of service by father, older brother, and younger brother.