The Rotary Foundation - Richard Harris
Hybrid Meeting – July 25, 2024
Richard “Dick” Harris has been a Rotarian for over 20 years, serving terms as President of RCO, President of RCOF, RCO Treasurer, and District 6980 Service Committee Chair, where he successfully leads the first Rotary Million Meal Marathon. He was named District 6980 Rotarian of the Year for 2021-2022. He now serves as the District 6980 District Governor-Elect and will serve as District Governor in 2025-2026.
He grew up on a farm in South Dakota and attended grade school in a one-room rural school. After earning a bachelor’s degree with a double major in Mathematics and Physics from the University of South Dakota, he became a computer programmer in the aerospace industry and worked on projects, including the design and fabrication of a new space-borne computer for the Minuteman II missile.
Later Dick earned his PhD in Mathematics from the University of Iowa, becoming a Systems Analyst working in the defense industry for the US Navy. He was assigned to various operating commands from Hawaii to Naples, Italy. His favorite tour was with Air Test and Evaluation Squadron Four in California. He was a Systems Analyst on the Operational Evaluation of the Navy’s F-14, flew in F-4 fighters, and worked briefly at Area 51 in the Nevada desert.
After leaving the Navy’s employ, Dick became a CFO here in Orlando and later became an educator directing nine campuses and teaching sites in five states for Belhaven University.
Dick and Cindy, his wife of 50+ years, have two children and five grandchildren. Son Brian is a tax attorney with his own law firm, and his daughter Lisa is a surgeon and chief of general surgery with the VA in Tampa. Both children are graduates of UF, and with their families, live in Tampa.
Having grown up in the Western US, Dick loves hunting and is a rifle marksman.
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