 Both of his grandfathers, Erastus Corning and Amasa J. Parker, served in Congress, and Parker was also a justice of the New York Supreme Court and founder of Albany Law School.He was educated at The Albany Academy and the Groton School, and graduated from Yale University in 1906.After graduating from Yale, Corning served as an executive at the Ludlum Steel Company in Watervliet, New York, and became its President in 1910.