Bernard Harris, 91, of Chicago, the former owner of two freight forwarding businesses on the South Side, died of heart problems in his home Monday, Aug. 14. As a young man, Mr. Harris was interested in real estate. But he changed careers and moved into the freight forwarding business and worked with a number of railroad companies. In 1942, he started Transport Terminal Co. in downtown Chicago. Five years later, he moved the company to 3710 S. California Ave. In 1967 he formed a second company there, Q.D. Cartage Transport Co., said a former employee, Loretta Gomolka, whom Mr. Harris hired in 1947. She was president of the companies from 1986, when Mr. Harris went into semi-retirement, until 1995, when he sold the companies, but they continued to talk almost every day up to the day before he died, Gomolka said. “He was a generous man. And he knew the transportation business like you wouldn’t believe,” she said. Mr. Harris’ business success enabled him to help his family and friends, said his grandson Jeffrey Frankfort, who spent summers with his grandparents during his youth. “My grandfather had a heart of gold. He worked long hours but he took care of his family, including his two sisters,” he said. Always impeccably dressed, Mr. Harris was a gourmet chef and a photographer during his free time. And he made amateur movies with his old reel-to-reel camera. For 50 years, he maintained annual memberships to most of the city’s museums and made a point of sharing his wealth and helping small businessmen get started, his grandson said. Mr. Harris died less than a year after his wife Honora’s death, said his grandson. “They say he died of a broken heart,” he said. Besides his grandson, he is survived by his daughter, Toby Frankfort; two grandchildren; and a great-grandchild. A graveside service will be held at 11:30 a.m. Wednesday at Shalom Memorial Park Cemetery, Rand Road and Illinois Highway 53, Arlington Heights.
