Businessman. Oliver Harriman, Jr. was born in New York on November 29, 1862, and was carefully educated in local schools. Thence he was sent to Princeton, where he pursued the regular academic course, and was graduated in the class of 1883. He was a good student and stood well in his class, and at the same time greatly excelled in athletic sports and was a leader in the social life of the college. While at Princeton he was a prominent member of the Ivy Club. On leaving college Mr. Harriman found his inclinations leading him toward financial undertakings rather than toward the commercial pursuits of his father. He therefore made his way to Wall Street, and entered the employ of the well-known banking firm of Winslow, Lanier & Co. He remained there for five years, being promoted from place to place and serving in many capacities. That banking house was an admirable school of sound finance, and Mr. Harriman learned its lessons thoroughly and in a most practical manner, and thus prepared him self to engage in the same business on his own account. He took the latter step on January 1, 1888. At that time, when he was only a little more than twenty-five years of age, he was admitted to the firm of Harriman & Co., bankers and brokers. His natural abilities and thorough training were dominant factors in assuring him success. In addition to the successful conduct of this business, Mr. Harriman had become interested in various other enterprises, and was a trustee of the Continental Trust Company of New York. He had an extended career in the National Guard of New York, beginning in April, 1888, when he entered that service as a second lieutenant of Company F of the Eighth Regiment. He was appointed, in 1894, an aide- de-camp to General Louis Fitzgerald, commander of the First Brigade of the New York State National Guard, and in 1895 was made commissary of subsistence, with the rank of major. Harriman married Grace Carley of Louisville, Kentucky on January 28, 1891. They resided at 70 Park Avenue on the island of Manhattan in New York City, and they summered in White Plains, New York. They also owned a residence in Silver Spring, Maryland. Together, Grace and Oliver were the parents of three sons, including: Oliver Carley Harriman (1894–1971), a banker with Tucker, Anthony & Co. Borden Harriman (1903–1940), who leapt to his death at the Philadelphia YMCA, several weeks after his father's death. John Harriman (1904–1961), a financial writer for The Boston Globe.
Harriman died on August 14, 1940 in Silver Spring, Maryland. His funeral was held in White Plains, New York, where he was buried.