Wilbur H. "Ping" Ferry (1910-1995) was a self-styled "town crank," an influential and iconoclastic figure who seemingly knew everyone worth knowing in the mid-twentieth century. Businessman, thinker, activist, government advisor, and philanthropist, Ping's career was as varied as his pronouncements. He taught John F. Kennedy at Choate, advised Eddie Rickenbacker at Eastern Airlines, worked a craps table in Havana, reported for several New...