The Millsaps College community mourns the loss of Dr. George Marion Harmon, the longest serving president in the history of the College, who died this morning at Baptist Medical Center.
Dr. Harmon took the reins at Millsaps in 1978 as its ninth president. During his tenure, the College achieved many educational milestones, including the creation of the Else School of Management in 1979 to offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees in business administration. In 1994, a master of accountancy degree was also added. The Else School achieved full accreditation by the American Assembly of Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) in 1990, an accomplishment widely viewed as a record event for any institution, especially the size of Millsaps. Also during Dr. Harmon’s presidency, Millsaps obtained the first Phi Beta Kappa chapter in the state.
Born in 1934 in Memphis, Tennesee, Dr. Harmon learned the meaning of work at an early age. When he was 7, he became a helper on an afternoon paper route, making 75 cents per week. He became the man of the house at age 13, when his father passed away, sacking groceries after school and slinging the Commercial Appeal at dawn on his own paper route.
In 1956, Dr. Harmon received his bachelor of arts degree in economics and Phi Beta Kappa and Omicron Delta Kappa honors from Southwestern at Memphis, which is now known as Rhodes College. He attended Emory University, where he was awarded his master of business administration in the graduate School of Business Administration in 1957.
In 1963, he completed his doctor of business administration from Harvard University.
After receiving his M.B.A. from Emory, Dr. Harmon worked for Continental Oil Company in Houston for seven months, before being drafted into military service and stationed in Washington State. He married Memphis native Bessie W. Porter in 1958.
While working on his doctorate at Harvard, Dr. Harmon worked full time on the research staff. After completing his degree, he joined Syracuse University faculty and taught graduate and undergraduate business courses from 1963 to 1966. He was able to apply his business education in a practical way when he joined the Planning Research Corporation, a worldwide consulting firm in Washington, D.C. But he could not refuse the opportunity to go back into higher education when he was asked to take over the Department of Economics and Business Administration at Southwestern (Rhodes). He made two more moves – to West Virginia College of Graduate Studies in Charleston, and then to the School of Business and Management at Saginaw Valley State in Michigan – before he returned to the Deep South and became the president of Millsaps for the next 22 years of his life.
Dr. Harmon was active in numerous organizations over his life. He served on the Board of Directors of McCarty Farms, Inc., in Magee, and Entex, Inc. of Houston. He also served on the Board of Directors of the Jackson Chamber of Commerce, the Mississippi Opera Association, the Jackson Symphony Orchestra Association and Mississippi Ballet International.
President Frances Lucas said, “Dr. Harmon was an amazingly strong leader. We will miss him in many ways, but we will especially miss him on game days. Dr. Harmon was a devoted Millsaps Major fan. I will miss him most in the sky box at football games. That was when he would mentor me on all sorts of topics, and where we would always have such a good time."
George Harmon's visitation will be from 5—7 p.m. at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Madison, Mississippion Friday, December 19. The wake service will begin at 7 p.m. following the visitation.
The Mass of Christian Burial funeral service will be on Saturday, December 20 at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in Madison, Mississippi at 10 a.m.
