Former 麻豆传媒映画Courier photographer James (Jim) Harrison passed away suddenly on Jan. 7 in Vancouver. Born Aug. 24, 1945, Harrison worked at the Courier from the mid-1980s to the mid-鈥�90s and kept photography as a hobby after his retirement. He became active as a freemason and was a member of Heritage Lodge #63, Acacia Lodge #22 and Keystone Lionsgate #115.聽 Harrison spent the past 20 years as a member of the Shriners of B.C. and Yukon, the last 18 as a member of the board where he devoted his life to helping children through the Shriners Hospital for Children. Most recently, Harrison sat as a board member for Shriners Canadian Hospital in Montreal. 聽
Former Courier editor Mick Maloney described Harrison as 鈥渢he consummate newspaper shooter who never came back from an assignment empty.鈥� Although he was quiet and reserved in his personal life, he never let his shyness stand in the way of a good picture, recalled Maloney. 鈥淗e would wade into a scrum of aggressive reporters, newspaper photographers and TV cameramen, his camera held at arms length above his head, and somehow come away with a shot.鈥�
Unlike many photographers Maloney encountered, he said Harrison was low maintenance. 鈥淗e never thought of himself as an 鈥榓rtiste,鈥� though he certainly was an accomplished聽photographer in those cost-conscious days of film photography. The walls of his studio were lined with 11-by-14 black and white portraits of every celebrity, politician or musician who stopped over in Vancouver, from Bob Hope to Pierre Trudeau to Steve Tyler to Sophia Loren.鈥�
Maloney said Harrison left home at a young age to make his way in the world and never forgot those early hardscrabble years. 鈥淗e was all about giving back and was always involved in a charitable enterprise with the Masons, though he kept that part of his life quiet.鈥�
A celebration of Harrison鈥檚 life will be held at the Gizeh Shrine Centre in Burnaby on Friday, Jan. 22, 1 p.m.聽 Memorial remembrances can be made in Harrison鈥檚 memory to Shriners Hospital for Children Canada, c/o Gizeh Shrine Centre, 3550 Wayburne Dr., Burnaby, B.C., V5G 3K9.
