Chicago newspaper columnist, educator, and author.

Sydney Justin Harris was born in London, England on September 14, 1917. At the age of five, the Harris family moved to the United States, eventually settling in Chicago around 1922. He began his newspaper career at the Chicago Herald-Examiner while still a philosophy student at the University of Chicago.

Harris spent two years as associate editor for an encyclopedia, edited his own magazine The Beacon, and worked as a researcher at the City of Chicago Law Department before joining the Chicago Daily News as a reporter and feature writer in 1941. In 1944, he began publishing his daily column, "Strictly Personal," which he continued to write for the next 40 years. He was also the drama critic for the News starting in 1946. In "Strictly Personal," Harris used his background in philosophy and research to write about the contemporary world, human behavior, religion, hypocrisy, and artistic endeavor in an intellectual, yet folksy manner. He generated a huge fan base which wrote him thousands of impassioned letters, agreeing or disagreeing with his opinions. He held several controversial views, including supporting reproductive choice, prison reform, and a less literal interpretation of the bible.

Harris moved his "Strictly Personal" column to the Chicago Sun-Times following the demise of the Daily News in 1978. In addition to his newspaper work, he led Great Books courses at the University of Chicago, was on the faculty of the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies, and lectured at colleges, clubs, and universities. His columns were compiled in several books including Majority of One, Last Things First, and The Best of Sydney J. Harris.

Harris was married twice, first to Grace Miller, whom he divorced in 1951, and then to Patricia Roche in 1953. Their meeting is described in her obituary: Roche was a stewardess and a model when she read a "Strictly Personal" column that infuriated her because she thought it was sexist. She went down to the Chicago Daily News office to confront Harris. Having had her say, "she spun on her heels and walked out of the office, leaving him to declare to colleagues, 'That's the woman I'm going to marry.'" They had five children, Carolyn (who unfortunately died at a young age), Michael, Barbara, David, and Lindsay. Sydney Justin Harris died on December 7, 1986 at the age of 69.