Editing Irving Harris (section)

== Early life and career==
[[File:Joan and Irving Harris Concert Hall.jpg|thumb|261x261px|The entrance to the Joan and Irving Harris Concert Hall in Aspen, Colorado.]]
Harris was one of three children born and raised in [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]]. His father, Bill Harris, was a wealthy woolen merchant.<ref name=Mowatt>{{Cite news|first=Raoul V. |last=Mowatt |authorlink=   |title= NEISON HARRIS, 86  |newspaper=[[The Chicago Tribune]]|date= September 9, 2001|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2001-09-09-0109090177-story.html  |via=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> He attended [[Yale University]] and graduated [[Phi Beta Kappa]] in 1931.<ref name=OurFounder>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= Our Founder: Irving B. Harris  |website=WHI.com|date= |url=https://whi.com/pages/3067  |accessdate=June 17, 2023|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> He was of [[American Jews|Jewish]] descent.<ref>{{Cite news|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title=Irving Harris Obituary  |newspaper=[[The Chicago Tribune]]|date=September 27, 2004 |url=  https://www.legacy.com/us/obituaries/chicagotribune/name/irving-harris-obituary?id=2404965|via=[[Legacy.com]]|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref>

He went to work for the Toni Home Permanent Company, a hair care company co-founded by his brother [[Neison Harris]] (with Ray Lee) in 1944<ref name=Mowatt/> which introduced the first [[Perm (hairstyle)#Home perms|home permanent]].<ref name=Mowatt/> Toni Home was sold to the [[The Gillette Company|Gillette Safety Razor Co.]] in 1948 for nearly $20.0 million.<ref name=Mowatt/> The original Toni manufacturing facility was located in a former schoolhouse near [[Forest Lake, Minnesota]]. 

In 1948, he moved to Chicago, where he served as chairman of fire and burglar alarm manufacturer [[Pittway]], which was later acquired by [[Honeywell International]], and then as the chairman of the mutual fund, Liberty Acorn.<ref name=NYTObit>{{Cite news|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= I. B. Harris, 94, Philanthropist and Executive, Dies  |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 28, 2004 |url= https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/28/obituaries/i-b-harris-94-philanthropist-and-executive-dies.html |via=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> In 1957, he became a partner of R.J. Levy and Company, a New York Stock Exchange firm headquartered in New York.<ref name=OurFounder/> In 1975, he left Levy to focus on managing his family’s assets.<ref name=OurFounder/> In 1986, he renamed the family investment firm, William Harris Investors, Inc., in honor of his father.<ref name=OurFounder/>