Edison Funds Whale-Size Sculptures for Aquarium

It didn’t take long for John Bryson, the chairman of Edison International, to come up with a name for the 88-foot-long blue whale mother and calf his firm is donating to Long Beach’s Aquarium of the Pacific with a $350,000 grant.

“We can call the parent Eddie and the calf, Eddie’s Son,” Bryson said, getting a laugh for his play on words during a ceremony to announce the grant at the aquarium construction site on the waterfront in Long Beach.

A group of students from Long Beach Polytechnic High School displayed an 88-foot line of hand-painted panels of the proposed sculpture, which will hang from the ceiling of the aquarium’s main entrance hall.

Aquarium President Warren Illiff said he hopes the blue whale becomes an icon for the facility. The blue whales, much larger than the gray whales, are often seen off Santa Catalina Island.