Bio

Harold Katz is one of the most identifiable figures in the Philadelphia, PA area. Harold Katz began his career in 1972 when he invested $20,000 to develop and open the first Nutri/System Center in Willow Grove, a suburb of Philadelphia, and a second shortly thereafter. When those two ventures proved successful, he made his move into franchising. In 1977, sales tripled when Mr. Katz developed a line of nutritionally-sound, pre-packaged, pre-measured diet foods to be sold exclusively to Nutri/System center clients. In January 1980, Mr. Katz brought the company public, and listed it on the New York Stock Exchange. Mr. Katz sold Nutri/System in 1986. At the time it was the largest medically-supervised weight control company in the world, with over 700 company owned and franchised centers nationwide. To fulfill his lifelong ambition, Mr. Katz purchased the Philadelphia 76ers basketball organization in July of 1982. The Sixers worked relentlessly under Mr. Katz to obtain something that had eluded them since 1967: the NBA World Championship. Mr. Katz has been instrumental in the growth of basketball worldwide. He continued to operate the club as a successful business until April 1996, when the team was sold to Comcast Corporation. Mr. Katz has also been active in the real estate, banking and nursing home businesses for the last 30 years. Active in community affairs, Mr. Katz has served on the Board of Directors of numerous organizations including United Valley Bank and various philanthropic organizations such as the Hero Scholarship Fund of Philadelphia and the Police Athletic League (PAL). He has also served as Annual Chairman for various fund raising drives, including the Fellowship Commission of Philadelphia and Children's Hospital of Philadelphia.