Martin Harris

Martin Harris was born in 1937 in Pittsburgh, PA to Sol and Adda Harris. He was raised in the small town of Clarion, PA with his sister Henrietta and brother Albert. He spent his summers attending and later working at Laurel Y camp and after graduating high school in Clarion, attended Penn State University where he received his bachelors and masters degrees in petroleum engineering.

After college, he went to work for Gulf Oil in Pittsburgh where he won the Rossiter Raymond Award from the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical, and Petroleum Engineers for a paper written in a given period where the lead author is a member under 35 years of age. While in Pittsburgh, Marty ate Sunday night dinners with his cousin Irv Samuels and family. Irv’s daughter, Karen (who was in the 7th grade), gave Marty the phone number of her favorite teacher, Judy Harris. Marty set a date with Judy and the two were married only 6 months later.

Marty and Judy had Ellen and then Jon and moved to Houston with Gulf Oil shortly after Jon was born. Marty continued his career at Gulf Oil until 1980 when he joined Standard Oil / BP and in 1984 took an assignment managing drilling operations at Prudhoe Bay. Marty and Judy enjoyed their time living in Alaska and returned to Houston in 1988 .

Marty retired from BP at 62 and filled his time with screening every movie he could get to and writing reviews that he sent out by email after each movie to over 200 people on his distribution list. He continued to take his annual trip to Penn State for a football game and time with his college friends. He did all of his own yard work and was an avid coin collector and a history buff. He visited almost every Civil War battlefield in the United States and every presidential library. He enjoyed his classes at The Women’s Institute and programs at The World Affairs Council as well as his book club and being part of the Beth Yeshurun investment committee.

Marty and Judy travelled the world extensively and enjoyed learning about different places and cultures. Most of all, he enjoyed his time with his extended family and friends, and especially his time with his four grandchildren talking about history and watching their sporting events.

Marty was a generous supporter of many organizations, most notably The Shriners Burn Hospital for Children in Galveston, TX. He is survived by his wife Judy, sister Henrietta Katzen and husband Marc, sister-in-law Dixie Harris, daughter Ellen and husband Michael, son Jonathan and grandchildren Hailey, Jake, Zach and Daniel.