Photographer Harry Weber dead at 85

The famous Austrian photographer Harry Weber who fled the Nazis and came back to Vienna after the World War II, has died at 85.

Weber, from the town of Klosterneuburg, died of a heart ailment overnight, according to a statement Tuesday from Andreas Mailath-Pokorny, Vienna's city councilor for cultural affairs. The statement cited Weber's widow.

Weber, who received a prestigious Austrian state honor in 2002, gained respect and recognition for his documentary photographs and was also well known for his portrayal of theater and music productions.

"Harry Weber was one of the greats of photography, a humanist with the camera," Mailath-Pokorny said in the statement.

During the final years of his career, Weber focused his lens on the Austrian capital.

Weber did not want to be referred to as an "artist," the Austria Press Agency reported.