Sidney Mortimer Harman was a Canadian-born American polymath whose varied intellectual interests saw him flourish during a sixty-year career as an engineer, businessman, manager and philanthropist active in electronics, education, government, industry, and publishing.
40 Facts About Sidney Harman
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Sidney Harman died one month after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia.
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Sidney Harman was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, a twin and the seventh of Nathaniel and Gertrude Diana Sidney Harman's eight children.
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Sidney Harman immigrated with his parents and siblings to New York City in 1923 and was raised there.
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Sidney Harman's father managed the regional office of a hearing aid company in Montreal before moving the family for a similar job in New York.
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Sidney Harman was a graduate of Baruch College of the City University of New York in 1940, earning a BA in Business Administration and later earned a Ph.
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Sidney Harman instead worked at secret military base in Watertown, New York.
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Sidney Harman was later was named general manager of the firm.
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Bogen wasn't interested so Sidney Harman left in 1953, taking Kardon with him.
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Sidney Harman handled sales, merchandising, and advertising, while Kardon was Chief Engineer, Designer and Production Manager.
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In 1958 Sidney Harman introduced the Festival TA-230, the first high fidelity simulcast stereo receiver.
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Sidney Harman steadily grew his company into an consumer audio juggernaut in the home, professional, and automotive markets producing speakers, amplifiers, noise-reduction devices, video and navigation equipment, voice-activated telephones, climate controls and home theater systems.
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Headquartering the renamed business in Stamford, Connecticut, Sidney Harman took the company public in 1986.
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Sidney Harman earned $1.17 billion in sales in 1995.
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In 2002, Sidney Harman was awarded the Electronic Industries Alliance Medal of Honor for "outstanding contributions to the advancement of the electronics industry".
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Sidney Harman held 1,695 United States and foreign patents and 2,172 pending patent applications covering various audio, infotainment and software products.
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Sidney Harman retired as chairman in 2008 and was elected Chairman Emeritus.
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Sidney Harman was one of the first inductees into the Consumer Electronics Association's Hall of Fame.
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Politically liberal, Sidney Harman became active in the US civil rights movement voluntarily teaching black children after public schools in Prince Edward County, Virginia were closed in an effort to avoid court-ordered desegregation.
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Sidney Harman was known for improving the quality of working life through programs he initiated at the company's plants.
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In 1972 Sidney Harman met Irving Bluestone, vice president of the United Automobile Workers union while testifying before a United States Senate subcommittee about factory worker anger and frustration.
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Sidney Harman said he felt the main problem was corporate America treating employees like replaceable pieces of machinery.
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In 1977 Sidney Harman accepted an appointment in the Carter administration as Under Secretary of the United States Department of Commerce.
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When Sidney Harman took office in 1976, he sold his company to conglomerate Beatrice Foods to avoid a conflict of interest.
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Sidney Harman continued its growth plan with a string of acquisitions throughout the 1980s that pushed Harman International's sales from about $80 million in 1981 to more than $200 million by 1986, and then to more than $500 million by 1989.
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Sidney Harman was a lifelong and ardent supporter of education across America.
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Sidney Harman served for three years as president of Friends World College, a worldwide, experimental Quaker College.
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In March 1991 Harman founded and served as an active member of the Harman Professorship in International Science, Public Policy, and Human Development at the John F Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University.
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Sidney Harman was chairman of the Program Committee of the Board of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies and a member of the Board of the Carter Center of Emory University.
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Sidney Harman was a philanthropist and a member of Washington, DC's Shakespeare Theatre Company Board of Trustees.
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The Company's new Harman Center for the Arts is named for his family with a performance space, Sidney Harman Hall, named for him.
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Sidney Harman was founder and first chairman of the Academy for Polymathic Study at USC.
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Sidney Harman served as the inaugural Isaias W Hellman Professor of Polymathy in the Academy.
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Less than a year before his death, in August 2010, Sidney Harman bought Newsweek magazine from The Washington Post Company, paying $1 and accepting the assumption of $47 million in liabilities.
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Sidney Harman was chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of the Public Agenda Foundation; chairman of the Executive Committee of the Board of Business Executives for National Security; a member of the Council on Foreign Relations and the US Council on Competitiveness; and a member of the Board of the Leadership Institute of the University of Southern California.
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Sidney Harman served as a major contributor to Israeli and Zionist causes during much of his lifetime.
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Sidney Harman was married to the former Sylvia Stern for 25 years and had four children with her.
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Sidney Harman displayed a remarkable amount of energy into his 80s, staying active by playing golf and engaging in various other hobbies.
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Sidney Harman remained involved in the day-to-day management of Harman Kardon until formally retiring on his 88th birthday in August 2006.
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Sidney Harman died on April 12,2011, in Washington, DC, at the age of 92 one month after a diagnosis of acute myeloid leukemia.