Richard “Old Man” Harrison Net Worth – 2023

Richard “Old Man” Harrison Net Worth:

“Old Man” Richard Harrison was an American pawn shop owner and reality TV star who had a net worth of $8 million when he died in 2018. He was well-known because he was one of the stars of the hit History channel show “Pawn Stars” (2009–2015). When he was in his late 30s, people called him “Old Man” because of how he looked and acted in general. Richard and his son Rick opened the Gold & Silver Pawn Shop in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 1989. As of 2010, Richard had never missed a day of work at the shop since 1994. “Pawn Stars” started in 2009, and less than three months later, it was the most-watched show on the History Channel. In 2010, “American Restoration,” a popular spin-off show, was made because of “Pawn Stars.” Harrison was on “Pawn Stars” for more than 270 episodes.

Early years:

“Old Man” Richard Harrison was born on March 4, 1941, in Danville, Virginia. His full name is Richard Benjamin Harrison Jr. When Richard was very young, his family moved to Lexington, North Carolina. He went to Lexington High School, but he quit in the middle of his junior year. When he was 14, Harrison drove a school bus to help support his family. Richard met the woman he would marry when he was 17. Just before they got married, he was caught stealing a car. Harrison chose to join the military over going to prison when he was given the choice between the two. He joined the Navy and left in 1962. The next year, he joined again because he needed the health benefits to pay for his daughter’s medical bills. Richard served in the Navy for 20 years. When he got out, he went to work for his wife’s real estate company until it closed in 1981.

Career:

In 1981, Richard and Rick Harrison opened a 300-square-foot store on Las Vegas Boulevard called Gold & Silver Coin Shop. This was right after the Harrison family moved to Las Vegas. In 1986, they moved the store to Fremont Street, and in 1987, they started buying and selling used items. Two years later, Richard and Rick opened a pawn shop on Las Vegas Boulevard South called Gold & Silver Pawn Shop. When the shop was on the Comedy Central show “Insomniac with Dave Attell” in 2003, it became known across the country for the first time. Attell went to the shop while he was in Las Vegas. He found out that it was run by a very strange group of people. After their episode of “Insomniac” aired, Rick started knocking on doors at production studios to pitch and sell a full-time series. The History channel picked up the show in the end, and the first episode of “Pawn Stars” aired in July 2009. Richard, Rick, Rick’s son Corey (“Big Hoss”), and Corey’s friend Austin Russell (“Chumlee”) were in the show. After the first episode, the shop went from having 70 customers a day to having 700. By the beginning of 2012, between 3,000 and 5,000 people went to the shop every day.

Life at home:

Richard married Joanne Rhue on July 7, 1959, and they stayed together until his death in 2018. Joseph, Christopher, and Rick were their three sons. Their first child, a daughter named Sherry, was born with Down syndrome and died when she was 6 years old. Harrison liked cars, and for Richard and Joanne’s 50th wedding anniversary, his son and grandson fixed up a 1966 Imperial Crown. The casts of “Counting Cars,” “American Restoration,” and “American Pickers” gave him a 1957 Chevy 150 as a gift.

Daniel Callahan sued Richard and Rick in 2012 for not having “reasonable and necessary” security at the Gold & Silver Coin Shop. Callahan filed the $20,000 lawsuit because he says he was hurt when he was “dragged out of the pawn shop and thrown onto the sidewalk” after an argument about a rifle he was trying to sell. Corey, Harrison’s grandson, said that neither Richard nor Rick had talked to the complainant directly. Later that year, Wayne F. Jefferies, who used to work for the Harrisons, sued the Pawn Stars. Jeffries said that he helped get the show started and that he was fired unfairly after the first episode. He also said that he was never paid the fees and merchandising royalties he was promised. He was reportedly fired after TMZ published a story about a new show called “Cajun Pawn Stars” that no one on the show knew about.

Death:

Harrison was 77 years old when he died on June 25, 2018. He had Parkinson’s disease. After updating his will a year before he died, he put Rick in charge of his estate and left his youngest son Christopher out. He wrote, “I would like to express my love and affection for Christopher Keith Harrison; however, for the purposes of this Will, I have intentionally and with full knowledge failed to provide for him and his issue.” Richard left behind more than just his wife and sons. He also had 10 grandchildren and five great-grandchildren. Harrison died, so “Pawn Stars” made an episode called “A Treasure Remembered” to remember him.

Awards and Commendations:

In March 2010, Las Vegas Mayor Oscar Goodman gave the Pawn Stars a key to the city. In return, they gave him a set of collectible coins. In 2012, Lexington Mayor Clark Newell gave Harrison the key to his hometown, and the Pawn Stars were grand marshals at the History 300 NASCAR race in Charlotte, North Carolina. The Clark County Commission made July 17, 2012, “Pawn Stars/Gold & Silver Pawn Day,” and Richard gave $1,000 to the Clark County Museum. He also helped the museum’s Senator McCarran exhibit by giving them a chair he used on the Senate floor. The chair was sold to a pawn shop in an episode of “Pawn Stars” in 2011.