Harry Cyril Read was born on May 13, 1892, in Chicago, Illinois, to Harry Carleton and Margaret Ann (Griffin) Read. He attended Chicago grade schools and later worked on a business degree at Northwestern University from 1919 to 1921. Prior to his higher education work, he served in the United States Army during World War I as a sergeant major of the 346th Tank Battalion. After returning from the war, he married Mary Sue Kain on December 10, 1918. They had three children: Harry Carleton, John Kain, and Mary Sue. After the death of his wife in 1928, he married Lucia Florence Jennings on February 23, 1938. As a newspaperman for nearly three decades, Read worked as both a reporter and an editor. In 1945, Read and his wife moved to Washington, D.C., when he accepted a job as Assistant to the Secretary-Treasurer of the CIO, James B. Carey. Read worked as Carey's assistant until the 1955 merger of the AFL-CIO when he became the assistant to William F. Schnizler, the Secretary-Treasurer of the AFL-CIO. Read's writing career was not limited to the pages of newspapers. In the 1930s, he researched and wrote extensively on crime and politics, especially Al Capone, and later turned to the subject of parliamentary procedure in the 1940s. His wife, Lucy Read, continued to promote her husband's work after his death on November 22, 1957.
From the description of The Harry Cyril Read papers. 1917-1968. (Catholic University of America). WorldCat record id: 65193548
