Harry Harris, 88; Celebrated AP Photographer

NEW YORK —  Harry Harris, a celebrated Associated Press photographer who captured images of the U.S. 1st Army marching across Europe during World War II, as well as Hank Aaron hitting his record-breaking 715th home run, has died. He was 88.

Harris, who worked for AP for nearly half a century until his retirement in 1978, died Feb. 12 at Brookhaven Memorial Hospital on Long Island after a brief illness, said his granddaughter, Michelle Abramson.

“Harry was one of the icons in the profession,” said Joe DeMaria, president of the New York Press Photographers Assn., of which Harris also served as president. “The guy was absolutely phenomenal. Anything he did, he did with 150%.”

During World War II, Harris “was always quite popular with the guys,” said “60 Minutes” commentator Andy Rooney. He remembered a brawl between Ernest Hemingway and another reporter that Harris broke up in a hotel room in Rambouillet, France.

“Here’s Harris, who stood about 5-5, in between these two guys, putting his hands on their chests,” Rooney said.

“I still laugh about it when I think about it today. He was really trying to be the peacemaker.”

Harris is survived by his wife, Lynn; a son, Michael; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.