Psychiatrist Thomas Anthony Harris, who wrote the 1969 book, "I'm OK - You're OK," died of a heart attack Thursday. He was 85.
Harris, a career medical officer in the U.S. Navy, was present during the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor, where he served aboard the USS Pelias. He suffered ear injuries during the attack that plagued him his entire life.He served as chief psychiatric officer aboard the USS Haven during the Battle of Okinawa, and later in 1945 he went to Nagasaki, where he helped rescue American prisoners of war following the atomic bomb blast.
He retired from the Navy in 1954 as a commander, then became chief of Washington state's Department of Institutions, where he was credited with playing a pivotal role in quelling a riot at the maximum-security prison at Walla Walla. Harris later quipped that the riot marked his "first intensive group therapy."