from Kenyon College in Gambier, Ohio, in 1943, where he was initiated into Sigma Pi fraternity, and his LL.B.

After his admission to the bar on March 6, 1947, he was the city of Portsmouth's assistant solicitor until 1951, when he was elected Scioto County Prosecuting Attorney.

After his retirement from Congress, he was a consultant in Washington, D.C., from 1981 to 1986, when he returned to Portsmouth and resumed his law practice.

[2] An artificial lake on the East Fork of the Little Miami River in Clermont County near Batavia is named for him (see East Fork State Park), as is the William H. Harsha Bridge, which spans the Ohio River between Ohio and Kentucky.

[3] Their son, William H. Harsha III, is a judge of the Ohio Court of Appeals for the Fourth Appellate District.