Over a career in the Canadian Foreign Service, he represented Canada in various international postings, including ambassadorships to Cuba, Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon.
[2] He attended Gordon Bell High School, earning the Governor General's Medal upon graduation in 1947.
[2] Harman attended the University of Manitoba, where he earned a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in History in 1950.
His talent as a pianist led to recordings of works by Grieg, Debussy, Rachmaninoff, and Chopin between 1946 and 1962.
Harman developed fluency in French, Russian, Polish, Czech, Arabic, Spanish, and German.