Richard Benjamin Harrison (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

Richard Benjamin Harrison, Jr. (also known by the nicknames The Old Man and The Appraiser) (born March 4, 1941), is a Las Vegas businessman and reality television personality, best known as the co-owner of the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop, as featured on the History channel series Pawn Stars. Harrison is co-owner of the pawn shop with his son Rick Harrison, which they founded together in 1988, when the elder Harrison was 47.

Harrison is usually referred to by his nickname, "The Old Man", which he earned at age 38.

Early life

Richard Benjamin Harrison, Jr. was born March 4, 1941 in Danville, Virginia as the younger child of Richard Benjamin Harrison (born July 20, 1908 in Sylva, North Carolina; died December 14, 2000 in Las Vegas, Nevada), a carpenter, and his wife, Ruth Davis Harrison (born June 2, 1910 in Gaffney, South Carolina; died May 18, 1993 in Lexington, North Carolina), and younger brother of Dorothy Leona Pearson (born July 31, 1929 in Gastonia, North Carolina; died August 18, 1989 in Lexington, North Carolina). Harrison's grandson, Corey, has mentioned that his grandmother stated that they are related to President William Henry Harrison. Harrison has indicated that he does not give much credence to this idea, though he has stated that they are distantly related to Benjamin Harrison.

When Harrison was one year old, his family moved to Lexington, North Carolina, where they lived at 115 Peacock Avenue, just off South Main Street. Harrison attended Lexington High School, but left during his junior year.

Career

Military

In October 1958 Harrison enlisted in the United States Navy to avoid imprisonment for auto theft. In 1960 Harrison married JoAnne Rhue, the daughter of Joseph Rhue, a county judge, who later became one of the lead attorneys for Philip Morris in North Carolina. They had four children: one daughter, Sherry, and three sons, Joseph, Richard Kevin Harrison (born 1965) and Chris. Sherry, was born with Down's Syndrome soon after their marriage. Harrison left the Navy in February 1962, but re-enlisted fourteen months later in order to obtain the health care benefits necessary to meet Sherry's medical expenses. She died when she was 6 years old.

Harrison eventually served in the U.S. Navy for 20-21 years, including stints as a paymaster, and attaining the rate of Petty officer, first class. Harrison served on four ships, including his final five years on fleet tug ATF 100 USS Chowanoc.

In 1967 Harrison was transferred by the Navy to San Diego, California. Harrison continued to serve in the Navy, while JoAnne obtained her real estate licence in 1970 and opened her own office in 1973. After Harrison was discharged from the Navy, he worked part-time in his wife's office. Declining real estate sales caused by interest rates as high as 18 percent cost Harrison $1,000,000 and the collapse of this business in 1981.

Business and reality television

With only $5,000, in April 1981, Harrison and his wife and three sons moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where he opened Gold & Silver Coin Shop in a 300 square foot shop at 1501 Las Vegas Boulevard. In 1986 he relocated the business to a larger building at 413 Fremont Street. In 1987 he obtained a license to buy and sell second-hand goods.

When the lease expired in 1988, Harrison and his son Rick founded what would become the World Famous Gold & Silver Pawn Shop at 713 Las Vegas Boulevard South, located less than two miles from the Las Vegas Strip. The most common item brought into the store is jewelry. As of July 2011, the store has 12,000 items in its inventory, 5,000 of which are typically held on pawn. According to episodes of Pawn Stars, Harrison is the first to arrive at the shop in the morning, and has not had a sick day since 1994.

Since July 19, 2009 Harrison and his son, Rick, along with his grandson Richard Corey "Big Hoss" Harrison and Corey's childhood friend and employee Austin "Chumlee" Russell, have featured in the reality television program Pawn Stars on the History Channel. Harrison is depicted as saying little and easily angered. "Chumlee" has stated that he is "old and cranky",

Harrison and the other stars of Pawn Stars served as grand marshals for the History 300 NASCAR race at the Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 26, 2012.

On May 29, 2012, Harrison was awarded a key to the city of Lexington, his hometown, by Lexington Mayor Clark Newell, in the Lexington City Council Chamber, and the day was also officially "Richard Harrison's Day".

On July 17, 2012, the Clark County Commission declared that day to be "Pawn Stars/Gold & Silver Pawn Day". At the Commission meeting, Harrison donated $1,000 to the Clark County Museum, and lent the U.S. Senate floor chair used by Senator Patrick McCarran (sold to the Gold and Silver in the Pawn Stars episode "Take a Seat") to the museum as part of a display on Senator McCarran.

Other appearances

On December 5, 2011, Harrison made a special appearance at the American Country Awards 2011, giving a speech onstage.

On February 25, 2012, he was a guest star at a Celebrity Bingo Bow Wow charity event, which was held at the Silverton Casino Lodge.

Legal issues

Daniel Callahan

In May 2012, war veteran Daniel Callahan (born 1950) filed a lawsuit in the District Court in Las Vegas claiming that Harrison and his son Rick failed to provide "reasonable and necessary" security at their store, seeking around $20,000 for injuries he allegedly suffered from being "dragged out of the pawn shop and tossed on the sidewalk" after an argument over a rifle he had brought. Harrison's grandson Corey defended them both, stating that they were never in direct contact with Callahan and "it was in our best interests to get him out of there."

Interference with business practices

In October 2012, A&E Network and The History Channel, as well as Harrison and the rest of the cast members from the show, were sued in Clark County District Court in Las Vegas for interference with business practices by Wayne F. Jefferies, a Las Vegas promoter and the Harrisons' manager, who represented them and "Chumlee" Russel in their television business dealings. Jefferies, who managed and operated the Las Vegas world cuisine restaurant Seven in 2001, and who, as an event promoter, put up to $75,000 in support of the 2005 and 2006 Las Vegas Red, White and Boom Independence Day event, was instrumental in helping to launch the series Jefferies states that after the show premiered, his influence in the show was increasingly reduced, and that he was ultimately fired and left without his promised share of fees and merchandising royalties from the series, purportedly due to network executives after a January 2012 leaked story on TMZ that indicated at the Pawn Stars cast were taken aback by the History's launch of the spinoff Cajun Pawn Stars, of which the cast had been unaware.

Personal life

Harrison is particularly passionate about automobiles, showing an interest in all types of cars, including his 1966 Chrysler Imperial, which took him fifteen years to convince the previous owner to sell, and later restored by his son and grandson for his 50th wedding anniversary; a 1957 Chevy 150 sedan given to him by the stars of two other History shows, American Restoration and American Pickers; and the mid-1960s B&Z Electra-King electric car shown to them in "Honest Abe", which he suggested could be converted into a golf cart.

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