Emil Egner was born on January 30, 1882. As a priest of the Diocese of Košice, he was ordained on December 21, 1905, in Košice. He began his pastoral ministry as an assistant pastor in Monok, Léha, and at the Košice Cathedral.

On August 3, 1910, he arrived in the United States, where he served in Hungarian Catholic communities in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey. He served in Cleveland and Lorain, and then for an extended period as pastor of the Fairport–Portage mission district. Later, he carried out his priestly ministry in Windber and Elizabeth.

As a member of the early American Hungarian Roman Catholic pastoral network, he worked primarily among Hungarian immigrant communities.

He passed away on July 31, 1959, in Elizabeth, New Jersey.