Artist, Philanthropist, Advocate for the Blind Dies

Funeral services will be held next week for Helen Harris, a one-time homemaker who founded a charitable organization promoting research into cures for visual impairments and who worked to make movies accessible to the blind.

Harris died Thursday at her Woodland Hills home following an eight-year battle with breast cancer, according to RP (Retinitis Pigmentosa) International, the organization she founded 40 years ago. She was 78.

Harris, who was diagnosed with RP in the 1950s and eventually went blind, also created the Vision Awards to honor visionaries in medical research, entertainment, the arts, music and technology.

She died just hours before the annual Descriptive TheatreVision broadcast of “It’s a Wonderful Life,” with former President George H.W. Bush providing an audio description of the film for the blind. Harris worked with film studios to provide descriptive audio versions of popular films to make them accessible to the blind. Director James Cameron provided the audio description for the Descriptive TheatreVision version of “Titanic.”

An artist who created paintings even while 99 percent blind, Harris’ work will be auctioned off in hopes of raising $1 million to endow a medical fund in her name benefiting researchers and ensuring continued support for RP and macular degeneration patients.

Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. Jan. 9 at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks-Griffin Mortuary, 5600 Lindero Canyon Road, Westlake Village. A funeral service is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. Jan. 10 at St. Mel Catholic Church, 20870 Ventura Blvd., Woodland Hills, with burial following at Pierce Brothers.

A reception will follow at the Harris family home.

Donations in Harris’ name can be made online at www.RPInternational.org, or sending them to RP International, P.O. Box 900, Woodland Hills, CA 91365.

• City News Service