Editing Irving Harris

{{Infobox person
| name          = Irving Harris
| image         = <!-- filename only, no "File:" or "Image:" prefix, and no enclosing [[brackets]] -->
| alt           = <!-- descriptive text for use by speech synthesis (text-to-speech) software -->
| caption       = 
| birth_name    = <!-- only use if different from name -->
| birth_date    = {{Birth date|1910|08|04}}<ref name=OurFounder/>
| birth_place   = [[Saint Paul, Minnesota]]
| death_date    = {{Death date and age|2004|09|25|1910|08|04}}
| death_place   = 
| nationality   = [[United States|American]]
| other_names   = 
| occupation    = Businessman and [[philanthropist]]
| years_active  = 1930–2000
| known_for     = 
| notable_works = 
| spouse        =
|children       = 3
}}
'''Irving Brooks Harris''' (August 4, 1910 – September 25, 2004) was an American businessman and [[philanthropist]]. 

== 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/>

== Philanthropy and activism==
Harris did much of his charitable work in [[Chicago, Illinois]], but he also donated substantially to the arts in [[Aspen, Colorado]]. Harris contributed most of his money to programs for children and the arts such as the [[Joan W. and Irving B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance]] at [[Millennium Park]].<ref name=NYTObit/> In 1986, Harris gave a donation that established The [[Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies]] at The [[University of Chicago]].<ref name=NYTObit/>

Harris gave the lead gift in 1954 to create public television station [[WTTW]] in Chicago - he later served as the station's Chairman of the Board.{{citation needed|date=June 2023}}

His philanthropy created several non-profits in Chicago: Family Focus (with [[Bernice Weissbourd]]); the [[The Ounce of Prevention Fund|Ounce of Prevention Fund]], a public-private partnership dedicated to preventing teenage pregnancy, child abuse and neglect; and the [[Erikson Institute]], a graduate school founded in 1966 involved child development.<ref>{{Cite web|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= 30 Years of Harris: A Tribute to Irving  |website=[[The University of Chicago]] Harris School of Public Policy|date= |url= https://harris.uchicago.edu/news-events/news/30-years-harris-tribute-irving |accessdate=June 17, 2023|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref> Harris was also an ardent supporter and donor of [[Zero to Three]], an early childhood organization.<ref name=NYTPaid>{{Cite news|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= Deaths: Harris, Irving Brooks  |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 29, 2004 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/29/classified/paid-notice-deaths-harris-irving-brooks.html  |via=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref>

Harris was a benefactor to Jewish causes. He was a member of the [[American Jewish Committee]]'s National Leadership Council, President's Cabinet and was a Founder of the AJC's Institute on American Jewish-Israeli Relations.<ref name=NYTPaid/> He served on the Advisory Council of the AJC Chicago Chapter for 35 years.<ref name=NYTPaid/> He was awarded the AJC's Human Rights Medallion for his efforts to combat anti-Semitism.<ref name=NYTPaid>{{Cite news|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= Deaths: Harris, Irving Brooks  |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=September 29, 2004 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2004/09/29/classified/paid-notice-deaths-harris-irving-brooks.html  |via=|archive-url=| archive-date=}}</ref>

Harris published a book, ''Children in Jeopardy,'' in 1996.<ref>{{cite book|last=Harris|first=Irving|title=Children in Jeopardy|year=1996|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=0300068921|url=https://archive.org/details/childreninjeopar00harr|url-access=registration}}</ref>

== Personal life ==
Harris married twice. His first wife was Rosetta Wolpert (b 1910 Minneapolis, MN); they had two daughters, Roxanne Harris Meyer Frank and Virginia Harris Polsky, and a son, William Wolpert Harris.<ref name=NYTObit/> His second wife was Joan Harris. Harris is the grandfather of noted [[New York City]] restaurateur [[Danny Meyer]], son of Roxanne Harris Meyer Frank.<ref>{{cite news|last=Wilsey|first=Sean|title=A Moveable Feast: Danny Meyer Is On a Roll|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/07/magazine/danny-meyer-is-on-a-roll.html?pagewanted=all|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 4, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|first= |last= |authorlink=   |title= Daniel Meyer Fiance Of Audrey Heffernan  |newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date= April 17, 1988|url= https://www.nytimes.com/1988/04/17/style/daniel-meyer-fiance-of-audrey-heffernan.html |via=|archive-url=| archive-date=|quote=Mr. Meyer, a son of Roxanne Harris Frank of Ladue, Mo., and Morton L. Meyer of Clayton, Mo., graduated from the John Burroughs School and Trinity College in Hartford. His father is president of Caesar Associates, a travel, hospitality and real estate company in St. Louis. His grandfather Irving B. Harris, of Chicago, is chairman of the Pittway Corporation, a diversified concern.}}</ref>

== See also ==

* [[Harris School of Public Policy]]
* [[Pritzker family]]
* [[James Crown]]
* [[David G. Booth]]

== References ==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading ==
* {{cite web |title= The Legacy of Irving B. Harris |url= https://harris.uchicago.edu/about/history/legacy-of-irving-b-harris |publisher= Harris School of Public Policy, The University of Chicago|access-date= July 27, 2023}}
* {{cite web |title= Celebrating a Life: Irving B. Harris |url= https://www.erikson.edu/wp-content/uploads/harristribute.pdf |publisher= Erickson Institute |date= 2004 |access-date= July 27, 2023}}

==External links==
* [https://harris.uchicago.edu/ The University of Chicago Harris School of Public Policy Web site]
* [http://erikson.edu/ Erikson Institute Web site]
* [http://harrisschool.uchicago.edu/about/legacy-of-irving-b-harris Irving Harris Bio]
* [https://www.whi.com/ WHI Family Office Website]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Irving}}
[[Category:1910 births]]
[[Category:2004 deaths]]
[[Category:Businesspeople from Saint Paul, Minnesota]]
[[Category:Yale University alumni]]
[[Category:American people of Jewish descent]]
[[Category:20th-century American philanthropists]]
[[Category:20th-century American businesspeople]]
[[Category:Philanthropists from Minnesota]]