Harold Uris

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title: "Harold Uris" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1905-births", "1982-deaths", "businesspeople-from-new-york-city", "cornell-university-college-of-engineering-alumni", "20th-century-american-businesspeople", "american-real-estate-and-property-developers", "philanthropists-from-new-york-(state)", "20th-century-american-philanthropists", "20th-century-american-jews"] description: "American businessman (1905–1982)" topic_path: "engineering" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harold_Uris" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0

::summary American businessman (1905–1982) ::

::data[format=table title="Infobox person"]

Field	Value
name	Harold Uris
birth_date	May 26, 1905
death_date	March 28, 1982
occupation	real estate developer
known_for	co-founder of Uris Buildings Corporation
education	B.S. Cornell University
spouse	Ruth Chinitz
parents	Stacey Copland
Harris Uris
children	Judith Haber
Susan Halpern
Linda Sanger
Jane Nye
family	Percy Uris (brother)
::

| name = Harold Uris | image = | birth_name = | birth_date = May 26, 1905 | birth_place = | death_date = March 28, 1982 | resting_place = | occupation = real estate developer | known_for = co-founder of Uris Buildings Corporation | net_worth = | education = B.S. Cornell University | spouse = Ruth Chinitz | parents = Stacey Copland Harris Uris | children = Judith Haber Susan Halpern Linda Sanger Jane Nye | family = Percy Uris (brother)

Harold D. Uris (May 26, 1905 – March 28, 1982) was an American real estate entrepreneur and philanthropist who co-founded with his brother Percy Uris, the Uris Buildings Corporation.

Biography

Uris was born to a Jewish family, the son of Sadie (née Copland) and Harris Uris, founder of an ornamental ironwork factory. After earning a civil engineering degree from Cornell University in 1925, Harold joined his brother, Percy, who had a 1920 business degree from Columbia University, and their father in developing residential real estate. After WWII, the brothers focused on commercial development, with Harold handling the construction and Percy the financial aspects. In 1960, they created Uris Buildings Corp. as a real estate investment company. One of the last buildings the brothers built together was the Uris Building housing the Uris Theater. Soon after Percy's death in 1971, Harold sold the corporation to Kinney National Company for $115 million, but the assets were soon foreclosed in NY's real estate recession. ::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a2/UrisLibrary24.jpg" caption="[[Uris Library]] at [[Cornell University"] ::

::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5b/Uris_Hall_and_cyclist.jpg" caption="Uris Hall at Cornell University"] ::

Harold and Percy Uris created the Uris Brothers Foundation in 1956, and gave money to Cornell, Columbia, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Harold Uris was a Cornell trustee from 1967 to 1972, and was an influential member of Cornell's Buildings and Properties Committee. Two buildings bear his name on Cornell's Ithaca campus. A social sciences building built in 1972 was named for Uris and his brother Percy. Earlier in 1962, the main University Library building was renamed Uris Library. In 1998, the Uris Brothers Foundation was dissolved after donating all its remaining assets: $10 million to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, $10 million to the Central Park Conservancy, $3 million to the New York Public Library, $3 million to Thirteen/WNET, $2.5 million to Carnegie Hall, and $1.5 million to the New School for Social Research.

In 1983, Uris donated $10 million to establish the Ruth and Harold D. Uris Center of Education at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Personal life

Uris was married to Ruth Chinitz; they had four daughters, Judith Haber, Susan Halpern, Linda Sanger and Jane Nye. He died on March 28, 1982, at the age 76, at St. Mary's Hospital in Palm Beach, Florida. Services were held at Temple Emanu-El in Manhattan.

References

References

1. Specter, Michael. (July 19, 1981). "Harold Uris Recollects with Pride". New York Times.
2. [http://findingaids.cul.columbia.edu/ead/nnc-a/ldpd_6033444/summary#history Columbia University Libraries Archival Collections-Percy and Harold Uris papers]
3. Kihss, Peter. (March 29, 1982). "Harold Uris, Skyscraper Developer and Philanthropist, Is Dead At 76". [[The New York Times]].
4. (August 2025)
5. Pincus, Adam. (February 1, 2011). "Clans with plans". [[The Real Deal (magazine).
6. Claiming to be the largest private developers in New York City, the Uris Brothers primarily used [[architect]] [[Emery Roth]].[http://library.columbia.edu/locations/avery/da/collections/emery_roth_sons.html Columbia University Libraries; "Emery Roth & Sons"] {{Webarchive. link. (2014-03-23 retrieved March 23, 2014)
7. [http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/lookbldg.pdf Landmarks Preservation Commission: "LOOK BUILDING, 488 Madison Avenue"] {{Webarchive. link. (2017-02-24 July 27, 2010)
8. [http://clio.columbia.edu/catalog/6033444?counter=3 Columbia University Libraries: "Percy and Harold D. Uris papers"] retrieved march 23, 2014
9. [https://www.cornell.edu/search/index.cfm?tab=facts&q=&id=766 Uris Hall] Retrieved 2009-01-28.
10. [https://www.nytimes.com/1998/06/25/nyregion/a-foundation-gives-away-30-million-and-calls-it-quits.html New York Times: "A Foundation Gives Away $30 Million and Calls It Quits" By GLENN COLLINS] June 25, 1998
11. Taylor, Kate. (October 24, 2007). "The Met Opens Renovated Education Center". New York Sun.
12. [http://bethlehemsynagogue.org/our-stained-glass-windows/ Bethlehem Synagogue: "Our Stained Glass Windows" By Hazzan Marlena Fuerstman] {{Webarchive. link. (2014-03-23 retrieved March 23, 2014)

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