Society of St. Vincent de Paul Orange County observes the passing of long time Vincentian Dan Harney.

The staff, volunteers, and agencies of Society of St. Vincent de Paul Orange County and Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County are deeply saddened as we pause to observe the loss of long time Vincentian and Food Bank founder Dan Harney on Monday, June 6, 2011. Well-loved and widely respected for his countless distinguished contributions to the Orange County community, Dan will be greatly missed – both as a visionary leader, and loyal friend.

Biography

As a former student in mechanical engineering at UC Berkeley and the pre-med department at the University of Illinois, Dan started what would become a career in accounting and finance with the Ford Motor Company. While at Ford, he continued his education at California State University, Long Beach, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in accounting with a Master's Program in Production Management. He stayed with Ford for 19 years and then moved to Rockwell International where he worked for another eight years and became Controller of the Los Angeles Aircraft Division and Saberline Product Line.

Dan became Executive Director of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul in 1978 and called it his "second career". The Society of St. Vincent de Paul is an international Catholic lay person organization whose purpose is to serve those in need. Through a spirit of justice and charity and by person-to-person contact, the organization's members help those who are suffering or in distress. Before Dan's arrival, the Society operated one St.Vincent de Paul Thrift Store. His efforts increased that number to seven, and the sales volume of that operation also increased from $142,000 to $1.7 million annually. In addition, special activities including two medical clinics and three programs for the incarcerated and their families were implemented. In 1994 Dan became the President of the Council of Orange County, Society of St.Vincent de Paul.

From 1978 to 1983 the Society saw an increasing need for food resources within the county. During that time, the drain for food assistance on other resources grew from $50,000 to $323,000. A study, conducted from 1980-83 in response to the growing need for food, revealed that 2.5 million pounds of salvageable food was being wasted each month in Orange County. With these statistics and some help from the country's first foodbank in Phoenix, the Food Distribution Center Serving Orange County was established.

Under Dan's direction, the Food Bank (now known as the Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County) grew from 10,000 to 51,200 square feet at its previous location in the City of Orange. Dan envisioned that the expanding need for food in the community was going to require an even larger facility to operate efficiently. With that in mind, he spearheaded the process with the Navy for the acquisition of a 121,000 sq ft warehouse at the former El Toro Marine Corps air station. In 2007 the renovations to the building were complete and operations commenced. Today food distribution has grown to an annual rate of 15 million pounds distributed to more than 480 agencies. This means the food bank food reaches at least 240,000 Orange County residents each month. Through May 2011, the food bank has distributed over 283 million pounds of food.

The St.Vincent de Paul Society also collaborates with other entities to provide Christmas toys for county residents in need and a Summer camp for disadvantaged youth. A program known as Lights-On provides transitional services to newly released ex-offenders. The value of community service provided through St.Vincent de Paul activities exceeded $28 million this past year.

When he found time in his 40 hour per week volunteer schedule, he enjoyed a game of golf and many trips to the Baja peninsula. He was involved in a variety of task forces, including the Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) as well as Regional and National Committees of the St.Vincent de Paul Society including the Executive, Conference Affairs, Conference Concerns, Financial Planning and Building Committees as well as Feeding America (formerly known as Second Harvest Foodbank Network).

Memorial Services

Vigil and Rosary
Wednesday June 8th at 8:00pm
O’Connor Mortuary Chapel
25301 Alicia Parkway, Laguna Hills

Funeral Mass
Thursday June 9th at 10:00am
St. Thomas More Catholic Church
51 Market Place, Irvine

Final Resting Place
Ascension Cemetery
24754 Trabuco Rd, Lake Forest