Tea 'evangelist' John Harney dies


 

School of Hotel Administration alumnus John Harney '56, who died June 17, is the subject of a New York Times obituary.

Harney, founder of Harney and Sons Fine Teas, "was part of an informal community of American entrepreneurs and food pioneers who barnstormed the country in the 1980s and ’90s to acquaint restaurant managers, their luncheon patrons and the public — one afternoon-tea demonstration at a time — with the dying art of tea appreciation," the Times wrote.

"Mr. Harney described his tea-promoting efforts, in a 2001 CNN interview, as part entrepreneurial and part inspirational: 'All we wanted to do was get out there and convert - sort of like St. John with his gospel of tea. That’s what I consider myself.”

Harney was 83 and died at home in Connecticut.