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History

Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. was born in Los Angeles in 1930, the same year his parents, Kenneth T. Norris, Sr. and Eileen L. Norris, opened the doors of Norris Stamping and Manufacturing Company, later to become Norris Industries. Both proved to be auspicious events. Kenneth Norris, Sr. was a metallurgist whose discovery of a way to make steel casings for bullets led to a key role for the family business during World War II. Norris Industries went on to acquire a number of other companies, including such well-known names as Price Pfister, Artistic Brass and Thermador Waste King.

Kenneth Norris, Jr. the couple's only child, earned his bachelor's degree in industrial management from USC in 1953, then held a succession of jobs in Norris Industries. He became the company's president in 1965, chairman and chief executive officer in 1969 and chairman of the board, president and CEO in 1972. Under his leadership, Norris Industries continued to diversify and experience phenomenal growth. Its revenues increased tenfold, and by the time Norris Industries was sold in 1980, it was a Fortune 500 company.

If Norris Industries had been the only legacy Ken inherited from his parents, that alone would have secured his position of prominence in Southern California. But the elder Norrises also believed they had an obligation to give back to the community, and in 1963, they established the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation. Mr. and Mrs. Norris, Sr. instilled in their son the same dedication to philanthropy, and Ken Norris, Jr. took over as chairman of the Foundation in 1972, after his father's death. It was this role that gave him the greatest pleasure in his life and that spawned his most influential and lasting contributions to the community.

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When Ken and Eileen established the Norris Foundation, they initially focused their grant making on two key areas: medicine and private education in Southern California. It was their belief that concentrating the Foundation's resources would allow its gifts to have the greatest impact. Like his parents, Ken Norris was a person of deep conviction, and under his guidance, the Foundation remained committed to many of the causes his parents had championed. Today's Norris Foundation continues to allocate large portions of its resources to medicine and education but encompasses a broader agenda - one that also includes community and youth programs, science and the arts.
After the death of Kenneth T. Norris, Jr. in 1996, his wife Harlyne J. Norris undertook the responsibilities of Chair of the Board. Through her leadership and dedication the Foundation has continued to grow and reach out to the philanthropic community by participating in conferences at local and national levels, broadening its membership on boards of various organizations and increasing the number of site visits. Harlyne has been instrumental in developing more strategic ways of making and evaluating grants, and expanding the involvement and improving the performance of the Foundation's Board of Trustees. Through this continued evolution, these developments will make the Foundation a more cohesive body that will be even more effective in the coming years while still remaining true to it's goal: to make the Southern California community a better place in which to live and enjoy life.