Charles F. Harris, the former chief executive officer of Howard University Press, died in New York City on December 16. He was 81 years old and had suffered from colon cancer.
A native of Portsmouth, Virginia, Harris graduated from what is now Virginia State University. After serving in the U.S. Army, Harris joined the staff at Doubleday and later worked at Random House.
Harris served as director of Howard University Press for more than a decade. While in this post, the press published approximately 100 books. Most of the these titles were in the social sciences and the humanities. In 1986, Harris founded Amistad Press, which he later sold to HarperCollins.
