THE HOWARD AND GEORGEANNA JONES
FOUNDATION FOR REPRODUCTIVE MEDICINE 
Officers and Directors

Edythe C. Harrison

EDYTHE C. HARRISON. Edythe C. Harrison is a former member of the Virginia State Legislature representing Norfolk, Virginia. Mrs. Harrison was the first woman to win a State nomination for a Federal Office in Virginia when in l984 she was nominated for the United States Senate.

She is the founding President of the Virginia Opera. When it was established in l974, The Virginia Opera was proclaimed the “Official Opera Company of the Commonwealth of Virginia” by the Virginia General Assembly. It is one of the finest and largest opera companies in the nation. The Edythe C. and Stanley L. Harrison Opera House was dedicated in Norfolk in l983.

Mrs. Harrison is also a founder of the following organizations:

• Women’s American ORT (organization for rehabilitation through training) in Virginia, an affiliate of the World ORT Union headquartered in London. ORT is the world’s largest technical and vocational school system in the world operating on five continents.
• National Women’s Political Caucus in the Second Congressional District of Virginia.
• Founding officer of the International Opera Alliance, New York and Shanghai.

Mrs. Harrison’s civic and philanthropic efforts are far-reaching. Other affiliations include:

• Member of the leadership board of the Cleveland Clinic in Weston, Florida.
• Member of the board of Nauticus, the National Maritime Museum of Norfolk, Virginia.
• Former Delegate to the United Nations.
• Former member of the advisory board of the Julliard School, New York.
• Founding member of the Board of the Old Dominion Trust Company.
• Founding board member, U.S.S. Wisconsin Foundation.
• Former member of the advisory board of the John F. Kennedy Center, Washington, D.C.
• Board member, Foundation for the Howard and Gerogeanna Jones Institute for Reproductive Medicine.

In l994 the Old Dominion University Library in Norfolk established the Edythe C. Harrison Collection which houses the papers, legislative work and history of Mrs. Harrison’s career in public office, education, civil rights, the arts and health.

A native of Detroit, Michigan, Mrs. Harrison is a graduate of Finch College and Wayne State University. She was married to the late Stanley L. Harrison and is the mother of three children and grandmother to seven.