Edgar Glynn Abel was born June 29, 1913 in Carroll County, Mississippi. He graduated from Southwestern Louisiana Institute (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette) with a B.S. degree in Animal Husbandry in 1939. He married Leah Jane Eagan, and they had one son, Daniel Glynn Abel.

While in college, Abel was vice president of the student body and president of Blue Key National Honorary Fraternity. He lettered in track, football, and baseball, and received an honorable mention for All American by Grantland Rice. From 1939 to 1942, he was Assistant Dean of Men at SLI. During World War II, he served in the Navy as commanding officer and executive officer on minesweepers in the Gulf of Mexico and South Pacific.

After the war, Abel earned an M.A. degree in Educational Administration at Stanford University. From 1946 to 1969, he was Dean of Men at SLI, credited with a leading role in the peaceful racial integration of the school in 1954. He was the manager of the Lafayette Municipal Auditorium from 1969 to 1972, and then became Director of Community Affairs for the city. He coordinated the Lafayette Centennial Celebration in 1984. Abel was a member of the Beavers Club, and the retired teachers and retired military groups. In 1983, he received the Lafayette Civic Cup Award. Abel died March 22, 2008 in Lafayette. He was buried at Lafayette Memorial Park.