SLA member Bill Harris dies at age 81

Bill Harris, a member of the Symbionese Liberation Army who helped kidnap newspaper heiress Patricia Hearst in 1974, has died at the age of 81. The New York Post, The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle, and TMZ all reported his death. [1][2][3][4]

According to the New York Post, Harris died of a heart attack at a San Francisco hospital on September 10. His wife, Rebecca Young, confirmed the death to The New York Times on Tuesday. [1][2]

Born in Fort Sill, Oklahoma, Harris served as a United States Marine in Vietnam before enrolling at Indiana University, the New York Post reported. While studying there, he joined Vietnam Veterans Against the War and met his first wife, Emily Schwartz, whom he married in 1971. [1]

Hearst is the granddaughter of newspaper publisher and politician William Randolph Hearst. She was born in San Francisco to Randolph Apperson Hearst, president and chief executive officer of the San Francisco Examiner, and Catherine Wood Campbell. [5][7]