Former GSAS Dean Elder Dies of Heart Attack at 71

J.P. Elder, former Dean of Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences and Professor of Greek and Latin Emeritus died January 1 of a heart attack in Ravello, Italy. He was 71.

Elder, who was a specialist in the history of classical Latin literature, Latin paleography, and textual criticism, had taught at Harvard since 1940 and served as Dean of the Graduate School from 1955 to 1972.

His main areas of research included the Latin poets Catullus, Lucretius, Horace, Tibullus and Virgil.

Born John Petersen Elder on August 1, 1913, in Auburn, N.Y., he received his A.B. degree summa cum laude from Williams College in 1934, his A.M. degree from Harvard in 1935, and his Ph.D. in classics at Harvard in 1940.

He served as research assistant at Harvard from 1935 to 1938, and he worked on Latin manuscripts in Europe as a Sheldon Travelling Fellow in 1938-39. From 1948 to 1949, he held a Guggenheim Fellowship for study abroad.

Before being appointed Dean of the Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, Elder served as Chairman of the Department of the Classics and as a member of the Faculty of Arts and Science's Educational Policy Committee.

During his deanship enrollment in the Graduate School rose from about 1400 in 1955 to about 3000 in 1972.

Hellenic Center

Elder helped to establish Harvard's Center for Heltenic Studies in Washington, D.C., where he served as acting director in 1961, and later was a member of its Administrative Committee.

Mellon Professor of the Humanities Zeph Stewart, recently appointed Director of the Center for Hellenic Studies said yesterday, "He was one of the best teachers I have known. He had an intimate familiarity with Latin poetry and brought it to life for a generation of students, both undergraduate and graduate."

He added, "His expert knowledge and his enthusiasm made even a paleography seminar exciting and fun. He was a person whose verve and perceptiveness spilled over into everything he did."

On leave from Harvard in 1958-59, Elder served with the Division of Higher Education in the U.S. Office of Education as Chief of the Graduate Fellowship Section. He was elected Vice President for the Humanities in the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in May 1961.

Elder was involved with a number of academic organizations including Princeton University's Visiting Committee on the Classics and the American Council of Learned Societies.

He also served as the Director of the Center for Middle Eastern Studies from 1968 to 1970.

A resident of Cambridge, he became a Trustee of Boston's Museum of Fine Arts in 1973 and served as an Honorary Trustee at the time of his death.

"He was one of the most outstanding teachers of Latin poetry that this country has produced in this century," said. Brown University Classies Professor Michael C. Putnam '54, a former student of Elder. "He was a superb scholar and instructor."

Elder is survived by six nieces and nephews. Plans are presently being made for a memorial service at Harvard