Corporation Member To Step Down in June

Richard A. Smith '44-'46, who has served on the Harvard Corporation since 1991, will resign from his position in June, University President Neil L. Rudenstine said yesterday.

Smith, 75, is the second member of the seven-person Corporation to step down in two months. Lawyer Judith Richards Hope plans to vacate her position near the end of March.

Smith's announcement is not unexpected: He told Rudenstine he was contemplating a resignation as early as 1997, although the president persuaded him to remain in office until the end of the University's Capital Campaign.

"Most people, because they've served a good number of years or because they're beyond 70, find that given the Corporation's intensity there comes a moment when they ought to step aside," Rudenstine said. "He told me more than three years ago that I should begin to be ready."

The Corporation is Harvard's top governing body, responsible for all major University decisions.

Yesterday, Rudenstine and other officials downplayed the significance of the two vacancies occurring almost simultaneously, saying both positions should be filled by the start of the upcoming academic year.

"The Corporation is stable...and I expect it to be equally stable in the next few weeks or months," Rudenstine said.

A joint Corporation-Board of Overseers committee has been searching for replacements for both Smith and Hope for a year, Rudenstine said.

Rudenstine said the committee will seek out candidates who are "well-rounded individuals with a high degree of intellect and interest in the University."

Hope pointed out that members of the Corporation have usually served the University in some administrative capacity prior to their appointment.

Smith is known for his expertise in financial matters as well as medical issues.

Smith chairs Harcourt General Inc., a Fortune 500 company with interests in publishing and educational materials. He has also served as chair and CEO of The Neiman Marcus Group and GC Companies, Inc., the parent company of General Cinemas.

"He's just extremely astute," Rudenstine said. "Given the tumult in the area of clinical care and hospitals, he's been very helpful...When any subject like that comes up in the Corporation, he can always be counted on."

The one-time Lowell House resident has been active with the University since his election to the Board of Overseers in 1989. He served as an overseer until being named to the Corporation two years later.

Smith, who was unavailable for comment last night, is also a leading contributor to Boston charities, and formerly headed the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute.

Yesterday, Hope called Smith "a brilliant financial guide for Harvard."

"A man like that is irreplaceable," she said.

But she added that the Corporation has survived the departures of many members.

"I am sure there will be very capable new members of the Corporation, as there have been for 300-some years," Hope said. "That has been the history...that will also be the future."

Rudenstine said the skills of both Smith and Hope would be missed.

"What Judith brought was legal experience, experience with government and Washington, where Richard is a successful businessman, very successful in the corporate and the nonprofit world," said Joe Wrinn, University spokesperson. "Those are skills that are important in the governance of the University."

Despite the loss of those skills, the Corporation's aims will remain unchanged Rudenstine told The Crimson. Among the Corporation's "compelling priorities," Rudenstine said, are new initiatives in the sciences, a proposed center for international affairs, and information technology concerns, including distance learning.