Photographer Chick Harrity, who documented history, has died

NEW YORK — Photographer Chick Harrity, who documented the Vietnam War and eight sitting U.S. presidents for The Associated Press and U.S. News and World Report, has died. He was 87.

Harrity took one of the best-known photographs of the Vietnam War, of a baby girl lying in a box alongside her brother in what was then the South Vietnamese capital of Saigon.

“Chick was an amazing photographer,” said retired photojournalist Nick Ut, another AP Vietnam War photographer. "We all walked by this homeless boy near a woman selling cigarettes, but Chick saw the photo.“

An eighth-grade teacher in his hometown of Reading, Pennsylvania, urged Harrity to pick up a camera, launching him on “a lifelong journey documenting the world around him,” his wife of 51 years, Yvonne Henry, wrote in an online obituary.

He took pictures ‘of a group of pretty interesting people’

Harrity started his career in 1956 at a Reading newspaper and went on to spend 26 years at the AP, 13 of them in the Washington bureau. He then became chief photographer at U.S. News and World Report.

“I had the chance to run around the world taking pictures of a group of pretty interesting people. I was getting to witness history,” Harrity said in his family's obituary.

As a member of the White House press corps for 33 years, he covered presidents from Lyndon B. Johnson to George W. Bush and was at the White House documenting Richard Nixon's resignation. One Aug. 9, 1974, photo shows a teary-eyed Nixon bidding farewell to members of the White House staff.

Harrity served in the Air National Guard and attended Kent State University. His hobby was “writing and photographing stories ‘as a unit,’” the AP wrote in an internal article describing Harrity as the organization’s Albany photographer.

Harrity had a great sense of comedy that imbued his work and personal lives, his wife said. “The guy had a fantastic sense of humor in every single part of his life,” Henry said. “He always looked for something funny.”

When asked about her husband’s obituary, she said, “”His quote would be, ‘It’s been a wonderful ride.’”

His family's obituary also makes a reference to Harrity's appetite for deep knowledge about the stories he was covering.

A page titled “Chick's favorite cartoons” shows one of two men looking a sign with one arrow captioned “You are here” and another captioned “Those in in the know are here.” Another shows a character from the cartoon “Shoe” who's sent out to do some aerial photography. Perched on a rooftop, the character says, “Luckily I just get paid to take the picture, not to figure out why.”

He was known for forming relationships that made his photography possible

Harrity covered 1960s and 1970s protests in Washington and Milwaukee, among other cities. Sent to Vietnam to help cover the effects of the Paris Peace Accords to end the war, he demonstrated his ability to swiftly form relationships that helped him take top-notch photographs of a country he didn't know intimately, said retired AP photographer Neal Ulevich.

“Chick was not only a top-notch shooter but outstanding at getting along with everyone in a situation that he was new to,” Ulevich said.

Harrity retired from U.S. News on April Fool’s Day 2001, his family wrote in his obituary. He moved to northern California, where he contributed to the Calistoga Tribune and local arts organizations.

During his long career, he received the Associated Press Managing Editors’ award for excellence in photography, the National Press Photographers’ Association's Joseph Sprague memorial award, the Leica Medal of Excellence for photojournalism and the White House National Press Association's lifetime achievement award. He was also named the White House News Photographers Association's photographer of the year.

Beside his wife, Harrity is survived by “interesting, amusing, and treasured family and friends,” his family obituary reads. “He loved well. He was well loved.”

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Associated Press journalist Edith M. Lederer contributed.