Phil Harvey (1938-2021)

Phil Harvey was the founder and CEO of DKT International, as well as a longtime free speech advocate and NCAC board member. Harvey also founded the DKT Liberty Project to protect against government intrusions on personal liberty, focusing on fighting for free speech, criminal justice reform and drug law reform. He spent a lifetime defending free speech at serious risk to his freedom and at great financial cost. He stood up to the government to assert his First Amendment rights in defense of his belief that people should have access to information about birth control and HIV/AIDS prevention and was a generous donor committed to defending the free speech of others.

Harvey ran the world’s largest private supplier/marketer of contraceptives serving Africa, Asia and Latin America from its headquarters in Washington DC. Operating in 16 countries, DKT supplied contraceptives to 22 million couples in 2010. Harvey was cofounder of PHE, Inc. in 1972. PHE, which does business as Adam & Eve, sells sexually oriented merchandise by mail. Harvey built the firm from scratch to its sales of over $88 million. 

Harvey served as Executive Director of Population Services International (PSI), an international organization which manages programs of family planning and child health in developing countries. Prior to PSI, Harvey worked with CARE in India, providing supplementary foods for school lunches, special nutrition programs for mothers and preschoolers, and related projects in family planning assistance.

Harvey held a B.A., Harvard University; M.S.P.H., Family Planning Administration, University of North Carolina; and served in the US Army.