Dr. James E. Harf

July 27, 1939-May 25, 2024

Dr. James E. Harf - beloved father and son, lifelong educator, world traveler, and sports enthusiast passed away peacefully while surrounded by family on Saturday, May 25, 2024, at Mercy Hospital in Chesterfield, Missouri.

Harf, 84, was larger than life, an undeniable force who wrapped those he cared for in a blanket of loyalty, generosity, wit, and kind-heartedness. He lived a grand life, spending his days exploring and studying the world, teaching countless college students many of whom never had a passport or considered international issues before they met him how to be good global citizens.

A proud son of Altoona, Pennsylvania, Harf was born on July 27, 1939, to Ernest George Harf, Jr. and Anna Marie (Keirn) Harf. Despite the challenging economic and geopolitical times, he had a very happy childhood that included excelling in multiple sports and serving as an altar boy at the Altoona Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament. He was proud of his father's work for the Pennsylvania Railroad, where he built locomotives.

After graduating from Altoona Catholic (now Bishop Guilfoyle) High School, Harf earned Bachelor of Science degrees in Secondary Math Education and Social Studies Education from what was then Millersville State College (now Millersville University). There, he was elected President of the Student Council and named one of 11 members of the 1961 graduating class selected by faculty and administration for "Who's Who at Millersville," the highest honor then awarded to a graduating senior. Harf was a standout Millersville Marauder football player as well, earning status as a three-year starter at offensive end in seasons 1958, 1959, and 1960. After a season-ended injury at the beginning of his senior year, Harf was invited by the head coach to formally join the Millersville coaching staff as the varsity ends and freshmen line coach. In 2024, he was named to its Wall of Honor, Millersville's version of its Hall of Fame.

After graduating, Harf remained supportive of and connected to the Marauder football program. Harf was invited over the years to address the team in the pre-game locker room and various times at football practice - experiences that were incredibly meaningful to him, talking to the next generation of players about the legacy they had inherited.

After college, Harf was named the head varsity football coach and teacher of math and democracy at Bridgeville High School in Delaware. In his first year as coach, he oversaw the successful desegregation of the football squad as the state began in 1961 to allow Black students to enroll in their local community's previously segregated schools. Harf's football team competed each year for the conference championship and defeated its Thanksgiving rival all four years of his tenure. At the end of his third year, at age 24, he was voted by his fellow Delaware high school head football coaches to serve as head coach of the South Squad in the annual Delaware State High School All-Star North-South (Blue-Gold) Football Game.

While working at Bridgeville, Harf received his Master of Arts in Political Science from the University of Delaware, taking classes at nights and in summers. After the election of President John F. Kennedy in 1960 - a watershed moment in his life - he decided he wanted to become a university professor working on the greatest security challenge of his time, the Cold War. As a result, he eventually left Bridgeville to successfully pursue a Ph.D. in Political Science and Russian Studies at Indiana University. Among his degree requirements were both written and oral fluency in the Russian language, a skill he used throughout his life.

After receiving his Ph.D., Harf accepted a faculty position at The Ohio State University, which he held until 2001. He was tenured in the Department of Political Science and had faculty appointments in OSU's Behavioral Sciences Laboratory and the Mershon Center, the university's think tank on national security and peace issues. While at Ohio State, he hosted a WOSU radio show on current events in the 1980s and held two visiting appointments: at Penn State University as an American Council on Education Fellow, working in the offices of the provost and president (1975-76), and at Duke University as a Visiting Professor (1978-79). Harf was a Professor Emeritus (and a fervent Buckeye football fan) at the time of his death.

From 2001-08, Harf was Director of International Programs and Professor of Government and World Affairs at the University of Tampa, where he led close to a thousand students on study abroad trips and appeared often as a TV commentator on political issues, including the entire day of the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. He was also a Visiting Professor at Huron University in London, England. From 2008- 24, Harf served as Associate Vice President and Professor of Political Science, focusing on study abroad, at Maryville University in St. Louis and was a Visiting Professor at OSAP Oxford University Program in Oxford, England.

During his career, Harf published over 40 authored or edited academic books, in addition to many articles. His most recent book, The Wise World Traveler, describes the historical context of must-see places throughout the globe. His debut novel, Memories of Ivy, chronicles a tale of a decades-long affair of the heart, set on the campus of Duke University. He was writing a second novel, Letters from Dad, at the time of his death.

Harf traveled extensively around the world. Among many other adventures, he climbed the Great Wall of China several times; watched with daughter Marie while sections of the Berlin Wall were torn down; was struck and injured by lightning while leading a student group in the mountains of Costa Rica; survived a 1983 Irish Republican Army terrorist bombing at the entrance to Harrods department store in London; and climbed on his hands and knees deep inside the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt until he reached the inner burial chamber.

Harf also served his country and the cause of freedom and education throughout his career. He was a member of President Jimmy Carter's Commission on Foreign Language and International Studies, which was responsible for national undergraduate education recommendations. He advised the U.S. Department of State on using new computer quantitative techniques to analyze large bodies of data to augment the diplomats' qualitative skills. And in the mid-1980s, on invitation from the U.S. Government, he was an observer of U.S. political and military policies throughout Central American countries during an active period of local violent revolutions.

His intellectual heart, however, always lay in studying the Soviet Union and, later, Russia and the post-Soviet states. He could pose as a native- speaking Russian, a skill he used to observe violent clashes between pro- and anti-government forces in early post-Soviet Russia, including the 1993 attacks on a major Russian government building in a coup attempt. After the fall of communism, he helped the Russian government's education authorities develop a civic education strategy for teaching about democracy and capitalism. As a result of this work, a prized possession of Harf's was a letter from former Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev thanking Harf for his efforts in helping Russia transition to a non-communist society, which was framed alongside an earlier draft of the same letter with Gorbachev's own hand-written edits on it, given to Harf by his secretary. He assisted with civic education projects in other former communist countries as well, including helping to create a model for the Polish government's post-Cold War curriculum. And, in a story straight from a James Bond movie, Harf once secretly smuggled substantial funds hidden on his person into an East European country to help dissident efforts against its authoritarian government.

Importantly, Harf understood that good governance started at home. That's why, in the 1990s and early 2000s, he served three times as an elected Granville (OH) Exempted School District board member, including as President; as Precinct Judge for County Board of Elections; and as Chair of the local Government Tax Authority.

Despite these professional accomplishments, Harf often said that the happiest day of his life was when his daughter, Marie, was born on June 15, 1981. Growing up, he instilled in Marie a love of global issues, travel, and athletics, coaching her in every sport imaginable. As her career advanced, they would talk every night, no matter where either was in the world. They traveled widely together and shared a love of golf, Ohio State football, and politics. They were, quite simply, an incredible daddy- daughter team.

A star athlete throughout his life, Harf was often most at home on the golf course, and he continued to play regularly through last fall with his beloved golf buddies at Forest Hills Country Club. From annual trips to Pinehurst Country Club, with his friends first and then with his daughter, to watching the pros at Augusta, to walking the hallowed ground of St. Andrews, he deeply loved the game of golf. With Marie, Harf joined the European Ryder Cup golf team in a private celebration party lasting far into the night at the invitation of its team captain after Europe's 1987 Ryder Cup victory over the American team at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. Harf also loved Indy Car racing and attended over 50 Indianapolis 500s, passing that annual tradition onto Marie as well.

Harf is survived by his daughter, Marie Elizabeth Harf, and son-in-law, Joshua Paul Lucas, of Washington, DC; ex-wife and close friend Jane Ax Harf, of Granville, Ohio; life partner Claudia Bley, of Cincinnati, Ohio; cousin Marlene Sheets, of Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania; brother-in-law, Matthew Reilly, of Ocala, Florida, and his three children: David Reilly, Denise Boyer, and Deborah Kantner. Harf was preceded in death by his sister, Suzanne Reilly, and his parents.

A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 10 am, Saturday, August 17, 2024 at the Cathedral of the Blessed Sacrament, 1 Cathedral Square, Altoona, PA 16601, celebrated by Msgr. Stanley Carson. Committal will be held at Calvary Cemetery.

Arrangements are provided by The Stevens Mortuary, Inc., 1421 8th Avenue, Altoona, PA 16602.

In his honor, please consider donating to the Dr. James E. Harf Memorial Fund at Millersville University (contact: Chelsey Wirth: Chelsey.Wirth@millersville.edu).

Condolences may be made at www.stevensfamilyfuneralhomes.com or Stevens Family Funeral Homes Facebook.