Edgar Warren Dickson was born in 1950, in Kingstree, S.C. He is the second child of Glenn Wells Dickson (deceased) and Katherine Montgomery Dickson (deceased). He graduated from Kingstree High School in 1968 and received his bachelor's degree in English in 1972 and juris doctorate degree in 1977 from the University of South Carolina. He taught school and coached basketball for two years before attending law school.

After law school he worked for Georgaklis and Korn, as a sole practioner and as a partner in Clawson, Dickson and Wilson before joining the Office of the Attorney General. Subsequently, he became Chief Staff Attorney for the Child Support Enforcement Division of the Department of Social Services and later General Counsel for the Second Injury Fund. In 1991 he returned to private practice joining the firm of Williams and Williams in Orangeburg, S.C. In 2006 he began working for the State Budget and Control Board as attorney for the Chief Information Officer and later for the General Services Division.

He has been a member of the Orangeburg County Bar Association, South Carolina Bar Association, and the South Carolina Trial Lawyers. He is a member of the First Presbyterian Church of Orangeburg where he has served as an Elder.

He is married to Lessie Gayle Floyd of Lake City, S.C., and they are the parents of two sons, Edgar Charles Dickson and James Floyd Dickson.