George Leslie Harrison

George Leslie Harrison

Find A Grave Memorial ID # 24839765

Banker and insurance executive. He served as chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for thirteen years. He left the position, in 1940, to become president of the New York Life Insurance Company.

During the World War II, he was a special assistant to the U.S. Secretary of War Henry Lewis Stimson, concerning matters relating to the development of the atomic bomb. In this capacity he served on the Interim Committee, which recommended use of the bomb against Japan.

George L. Harrison Wikipedia Page

George Leslie Harrison (January 26, 1887 – March 5, 1958) was an American banker, insurance executive and advisor to US Secretary of War Henry Lewis Stimson (Yale Skull & Bones 1888) during World War II.

Biography

He was born in San Francisco, California on January 26, 1887. In 1909, at Yale, he was tapped for the Skull and Bones secret society. He was graduated from Yale University in 1910, and Harvard Law School in 1913. After earning his law degree, Harrison became law clerk for one year to U.S. Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes (Harvard Porcellian Club).

After serving as general counsel to the Federal Reserve Board, Harrison served as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for 13 years starting in 1928. He left in 1941 to become president of New York Life Insurance Company. During World War II, he was Secretary to Henry Lewis Stimson's special assistant for matters relating to the development of the atomic bomb. He served with Stimson on the eight-member Interim Committee which examined problems expected to result from the bomb's creation and which recommended direct military use of the bomb against Japan without specific warning. Harrison chaired the committee when Stimson was absent.

He married the widow of Rear Admiral Cary Travers Grayson, MD, PharmD; who was the former Alice Gertrude Gordon.

Harrison returned to his position at New York Life after the war, becoming chairman of the company's board in 1948.

He died of a cerebral hemorrhage in New York City, in 1958, and is buried in Rock Creek Cemetery in Washington, DC.

NOTE: Rear Admiral Cary Grayson was White House physician to U.S. Presidents William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson and Franklin Delano Roosevelt