Irving Harris

Irving B. Harris (August 4, 1910 – September 25, 2004) was an American businessman and philanthropist. With his brother Neison, he co-founded the Toni Home Permanent Company, which was sold to the Gillette Safety Razor Co. in January 1948 for $12.6 million. The original Toni manufacturing facility was located in a former schoolhouse near Forest Lake, Minnesota.

The entrance to the Joan and Irving Harris Concert Hall in Aspen, Colorado.
Irving Harris
Born(1910-08-04)August 4, 1910
Saint Paul, Minnesota
DiedSeptember 25, 2004(2004-09-25) (aged 94)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationBusinessman and philanthropist
Years active1930 - 2000

Born and raised in Saint Paul, Minnesota, 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. He attended Yale University and graduated Phi Beta Kappa in 1931. In 1986, Harris gave a donation that established The Irving B. Harris Graduate School of Public Policy Studies at The University of Chicago. Mr. 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. His philanthropy created several non-profits in Chicago - Family Focus (with Bernice Weissbourd) and the Ounce of Prevention Fund are "children" of Irving Harris, as is Erikson Institute, the graduate school in child development he helped found in 1966.

Harris published a book, Children in Jeopardy, in 1996.[1] Harris had a wife named Joan; two daughters, Roxanne Harris Frank and Virginia Harris Polsky, as well as a son, William Harris.

Harris is also the grandfather of noted New York City restaurateur Danny Meyer, son of Roxanne Harris Frank.[2]

  1. Harris, Irving (1996). Children in Jeopardy. Yale University Press. ISBN 0300068921.
  2. Wilsey, Sean (August 4, 2011). "A Moveable Feast: Danny Meyer Is On a Roll". The New York Times.
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