Edward Staunton West, born in Stuart, Virginia on September 9, 1896, received his undergraduate degree from Randolph-Macon University in Virginia, an M.S. from Kansas State College, and a Ph.D. in organic chemistry from the University of Chicago in 1923. West later became a professor with the Department of Biochemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. In 1934 he accepted an offer to chair the Department of Biochemistry at the University of Oregon Medical School (UOMS) in Portland, Oregon. Shortly after his arrival at UOMS, he became Chairman of the Admissions Committee. Dr. West fathered the Primate Center (the first in the nation) with Dr. Donald Pickering.

During WWII, Edward was a consultant to the Army and Navy for premedical training programs and served as Director of Research for the U.S. Quartermaster Corps. Continuing his studies, West took basic courses in radioisotopes at the Oak Ridge Institute of Nuclear Studies in 1948 and coauthored a biochemistry textbook with Dr. Wilbert Todd that was considered to be the most outstanding in the field. He retired in 1966 at the age of 70 after 32 years at UOMS. After retirement, he began working as an assistant to the Primate Center Director, Dr. William Mantagna, and continued to serve as senior advisor to the UOMS Admissions Committee. As one of his favorite diversions, he initiated the noontime horseshoe tournaments at UOMS and was an avid outdoorsman.

He was married to Ruth Hurd West (1894-1969), who preceded him in death. After Ruth passed, he married Ruth's first cousin, Muriel Jennings Schori, in 1969. Muriel passed way in 1985. Dr. West died several years later in 1988.