Born in Duluth, Minnesota, he grew up in Miami Beach, Florida and lived most of his life in Atlanta, Georgia.
He was a professor of statistics in the Industrial and Systems Engineering Department at the Georgia Institute of Technology from 1960 through 1991, and taught in China and Turkey.
Harrison Sr. was badly burned in an accident at the mill in 1929, and later died as a result of what was then known as blood poisoning (now known as a staph infection).
Harrison Jr. then moved with his mother and sisters, Eleanor and Mary Alice, to Miami Beach, Florida.
Having keen mathematical skills, he was made a supply sergeant and was shipped to the Philippines, where he supported American Pacific Theater of Operations.