Harmon, Francis Stuart, 1895-

Francis Harmon was born in Paulding, Mississippi. He served in France in World War I and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1922. He then returned to Mississippi and became editor of a newspaper in Hattiesburg. He served as chairman of the Mississippi State YMCA Committee for five years in the mid-1920s. In 1924 he became a member of the National Council, and in 1929 he was elected its president. In 1932 he succeeded John Mott as general secretary for the International Committee. He resigned in 1936 and moved to Hollywood to work in the motion picture industry, where he remained until 1952. In the early 1960s he was the director of the New York City association and guided it through a merger with the Brooklyn association to form the YMCA of Greater New York. He was on the Board of Deacons and the Board of Trustees of the Riverside Community Church in New York; he was also vice president and a trustee of the Interchurch Center from 1957 until his death.

From the guide to the Francis S. Harmon papers., 1929-1968, (University of Minnesota. Kautz Family YMCA Archives. [ymca])

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