Paul P. Harris

Paul Percy Harris ( born April 19, 1868 in Racine ( Wisconsin); † January 27, 1947 ) is one of the founders of the Rotary Club. Harris studied law and graduated from the University of Iowa.

Life

Paul Harris worked in various professions and traveled extensively to Europe, before settling in Chicago in 1896 to open a law firm. There he learned the coal dealer Silvester Schiele, Gustavus Loehr, a mining engineer and Hiram Shorey know the master tailor. Together with them he founded on 23 February 1905 the first Rotary Club as a place of meeting, and friendship.

The club idea was quickly popular. Only a few years later, in 1908, the second club in San Francisco was founded. By 1911 there were 16 organizations, who together formed the National Association of Rotary. This was in 1912 renamed Rotary International, with offices in Canada and Europe. When Paul Harris died on January 27, 1947, had evolved from the casual meeting with three friends, a community with more than 6,000 clubs on four continents.