Sydney Harris Dies; ‘Strictly Personal’ Chicago Columnist Authored 11 Books

CHICAGO — Sydney Harris, an author and syndicated columnist who brought a literary, reflective style to the pages of more than 200 daily newspapers, has died after heart surgery. He was 69.

Harris died Sunday at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Harris’ column, “Strictly Personal,” approached social and philosophical questions with an often wry, humanist style. His column treated readers to bits of knowledge and insight in a recurring feature titled, “Things I Learned En Route to Looking Up Other Things.”

Harris wrote 11 books in a career that made his column familiar to newspaper readers nationwide. Time magazine once called Harris “the most quoted newsman in Chicago.”

Born in London, Harris was 5 when his family moved to Chicago. He studied philosophy at the University of Chicago and began working for the Chicago Herald and Examiner in 1934.

Harris joined the Chicago Daily News in 1939 and was a columnist and drama critic until the newspaper closed in 1978. He later wrote a column for the Chicago Sun-Times. His column was syndicated nationally by NewsAmerica.