Wyman Clinton Harris

Wyman Clinton Harris died on June 25, 2026, after saying heartfelt goodbyes to friends and family. At 85 years, he was ready to go, although he wasn’t quite ready to leave his lifelong love, Gay Harris. They met at a backyard swim party in Tucson, Arizona, during a field trip after his first year at the U.S. Air Force Academy when Gay was only 17. They were married af-ter his graduation in 1963.

Wyman was born May 7, 1941, to Raymond and Ravanell Har-ris in Vinita, Oklahoma. He grew up on a farm in Oklahoma five miles from the nearest paved road. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” best describe his summers as a barefoot lad shooting snakes and squirrels, catching perch and catfish in White Oak Creek, and swimming in the buff. The daily chores of farm life instilled discipline, while the seasonal tasks demon-strated the warm embrace and harsh cruelty of Mother Nature. He was especially proud of his Cherokee heritage as well as be-ing a descendant of Mayflower pilgrims.

Wyman’s formal education began in a one-room school and ended at Harvard Business School. Predictably, life changed dramatically when Wy left Little House on the Prairie for the U.S. Air Force Academy. He served in the U.S. Air Force with assignments at Ramstein Air Base in Germany and Air Force Headquarters in the Pentagon, while also earning a master’s de-gree in industrial engineering from Purdue University. Thus groomed, the barefoot lad advanced quickly at General Foods Corporation from plant production to marketing to general management. Along the way, he attended the Program for Man-agement Development (PMD) at Harvard Business School, pro-duced some memorable TV commercials for Jell-O Pudding, headed Birds Eye’s operations, and started and ran a new divi-sion by acquiring several privately owned food companies.

With the necessary ingredients in place, Wyman heeded his en-trepreneurial spirit and partnered with another food-industry ex-ecutive to build a new food company from scratch via acquisi-tion. The successful result, Wyndham Foods, Inc., is a classic case study in industry consolidation. Then, he did it again in another industry — his company, Harris & Hoimes, Inc., bought a group of companies that manufacture school furniture, becoming the largest supplier of furniture to schools.

A runner much of his life, he ran a marathon at age 40. He de-veloped a love of sailing and became a member of the San Francisco Yacht Club in 1987. After retirement, he and Gay spent much of their time aboard their Offshore 54 pilothouse motor yacht cruising in Mexico, British Columbia, and Alaska. At age 73, he took up scuba diving and completed over 200 dives in Indonesia, India, the Maldives, and Palmyra.

Wyman’s greatest attribute was his devotion to his family. He will be missed profoundly by his loving wife of 63 years, Gay; his two daughters, Lisa McCubbin Hill and Stephanie Ryder (husband Bill); and grandsons, Connor McCubbin (wife Abby), Cooper McCubbin, Charlie Ryder and Brooks Ryder.

Donations in his honor may be made to J. David Gladstone In-stitutes for Neurological Disease Research or Suncrest Hospice.

A celebration of life will be planned this summer.