Paul P. Harris was the founder of Rotary. He was born in Racine,
Wisconsin on April 19, 1868, and spent his early years in
Wallingford, Vermont, prior to attending the University of
Vermont, Princeton University and the University of Iowa.
Following his graduation from the law school of the University
of Iowa in 1891 he spent the next five years seeing the world
and in coming to know his fellow man before settling down
to practice law in Chicago.
He worked as a newspaper reporter, a business
college teacher, a stock company actor and as a cowboy. He
traveled extensively as a salesman for a marble and granite
concern in the U.S.A. and Europe. These varied experiences
broadened his vision and were of material assistance in the
early extension of Rotary.
In 1896, Paul Harris went to Chicago to practice
law. One day in 1900 he dined with a lawyer friend in Rogers
Park, a residential section of Chicago. After dinner they
took a walk and he was impressed by the fact that his friend
stopped at several stores and shops in the neighborhood and
introduced him to the proprietors, who were his friends. Paul
Harris' law clients were business friends, not social friends,
but this experience caused him to wonder why he couldn't make
social friends out of at least some of his business friends
- and he resolved to organize a club which would band together
a group of representative business and professional men in
friendship and fellowship.
Paul Harris Fellow
Anyone who contributes - or in whose name is
contributed - a gift of US$1,000 or more to the Annual Programs
Fund may become a Paul Harris Fellow. Each new Paul Harris
Fellow receives a commemorative certificate, a Paul Harris
Fellow pin, and a medallion. Donors are eligible for Paul
Harris Fellow recognition when their cumulative giving reaches
US$1,000.
