E. Roland Harriman

Edward Roland Noel "Bunny" Harriman (December 24, 1895 – February 16, 1978) was an American financier, philanthropist and heir of the wealthy Harriman family.

Early life Harriman was born on December 24, 1895, in New York City. He was the youngest of five surviving children of Mary Williamson Averell and Edward Henry Harriman. Among his siblings was W. Averell Harriman, the financier and government official, four years his senior. During World War I he served for 10 months as an inspector with the rank of lieutenant in the United States Army Ordnance Department; stricken with pneumonia and influenza, he was honorably discharged in January 1919.

Career After regaining his health in California, in November 1919, Harriman joined the Merchant Shipbuilding Corporation, a firm in which his brother W. Averell Harriman had an interest.

In 1922 Harriman joined W. A. Harriman Company, investment bankers in New York City, and in 1923 he became its vice president. In 1927 the two brothers formed the banking firm Harriman Brothers and Company. and were listed in the Social Register. Together they had two children: Elizabeth Harriman, who was married to Alexander C. Northrop, then Maximillian Bliss, Jr. Phyllis Harriman, a landscape painter, who was married for several years to fellow artist Frank Herbert Mason

Harriman died on February 16, 1978, in Arden, New York,

Philanthropy With his wife, Harriman established the Irving Sherwood Wright professorship in geriatrics at New York Hospital-Cornell Medical Center, and provided funds for cardiovascular research at the hospital.

After World War II, Harriman joined the American Red Cross as a member of the board of governors in 1947 and helped reorganize it, serving as manager for the organization's North Atlantic area from 1944 to 1946, as vice-president and national annual fund appeal chair in 1949, and was appointed its president by President Truman to succeed General George Marshall in 1950. President Dwight Eisenhower reappointed him president in 1953.

Harriman's other philanthropic board memberships included that of the American Museum of Natural History, for which he was also treasurer. He was also the chairman of the U.S. Trotting Association. He was also president and chairman of the Boys' Club of New York.