Howard Norton Harrison

Howard Norton Harrison, PhD October 12, 1933 – October 31, 2024

Dr. Howard N. Harrison passed away quietly on October 31, 2024 in North Fort Myers, Florida. He had lived in the Pine Lakes Community in North Fort Myers, FL since his retirement from the University of Rochester Medical School, NY where he had served as Director of Surgical Research since 1969. Dr. Harrison was born in Denver, CO on October 12, 1933. He was raised in the Central Valley of California, graduated with a BS in Health Sciences in 1955 from University of CA at Davis, received a PhD from Cornell University at Ithaca NY in 1961 and served as a Captain in the Army Medical Services Corps, from 1961-63, in the Brook Army Burn Research Unit at Fort Sam Houston in San Antonio, TX. From there his career led him to Tufts University Medical School in Boston, MA, as an Instructor in Physiology from 1963-67, then Associate Professor of Biology at Illinois State University in Normal, IL. from 67-69. He retired in 2000. At the Pine Lakes Country Club Retirement Community, he actively contributed in many ways including as Editor of the Whispering Pines Newsletter, as creator of the Community Emergency Response Team (CERT). He then worked with the North Fort Myers Fire Chief to organize, fund and train the team. In 2007 Harrison compiled a book of people, interviews and events of Pine Lakes from 1987-2007 entitled “Twenty Years of Living the Dream”. He also enjoyed tennis, reading, golf and travel. He retired as Newsletter editor in 2016 due to health issues but continued to live in his home in Pine Lakes until his death recently. Howard is survived by two of his three children, Catherine (Don) McClure of Ashville, OH; Dale Harrison of Oberlin, OH; his granddaughter, Emily McClure, and great-grandson, Emmitt James, both of Circleville, OH, as well as first wife, Jeanne McKibben, MD in Oberlin, OH, and second wife and stepchildren. He is preceded in death by his mother, Martha Jane Norton Harrison Hicks, his father, Don Leroy Harrison, and his daughter, Lisa Harrison. A Memorial Service is scheduled for 2:00 pm on Friday, December 6, 2024 at Gallagher Family Funeral Home, 2701 Cleveland Ave., Fort Myers, Florida, 239-337-7311.