Dedicated HBS Prof Dies at 88

Harvard Business School (HBS) Professor Emeritus Thomas J. C. Raymond, who taught at Harvard in various capacities for 55 years, died on September 29. He was 88 years old.

Raymond was a professor at HBS, Harvard College, and the Extension School, starting at HBS in 1950. There, he put his expertise in business communications to use in a compulsory course that gained notoriety amongst HBS graduates, “Written Analysis of Cases,” or “WAC,” as it was known for short. The course required first-year MBA students to submit biweekly papers, to be dropped off in a slot on the side of the library by 9 p.m. on Saturday, although this was later changed to Friday under pressure from students.

“It forced each of us as students to integrate all of the course material we were learning and apply it to a problem,” said Ray Goldberg ’48, Moffett Professor Emeritus of Agriculture and Business at HBS, who was a student in WAC and later a colleague of Raymond’s. “Although we all resented it at the time, in retrospect, it was one of the best courses we all took.”

Goldberg described the development of the program under Raymond’s leadership.

“Tom Raymond headed up that course from its inception for many, many decades,” he said. “He not only had to develop a program but also the personnel for it.”

Stephen A. Greyser ’56, Chapman Professor of Business Administration Emeritus at HBS and in the past both an MBA student under Raymond in WAC and then a case-writer and faculty member for the program said the reaction to WAC was “fear now, respect later.”

“The course provided structure and discipline regarding written and oral communications,” he said. “The WAC slot was sort of a metaphor for hard, hard work and all that was rigorous and pressure-laden at the Harvard Business School.”

Raymond’s wife, Alicia Margarita, said he had always enjoyed his work at the University.

“He loved the students, he taught thousands and thousands,” she said.

She remembered that her husband had at one point taught both George W. Bush and Al Gore ’69.

“We liked Al Gore,” she said.

In 1969 Raymond started a smaller course at the College called “Business in American Life,” in which he closely corresponded with students as they started up their own small businesses.

From then until his retirement in 1987, he split his work between the Yard, HBS, and, from 1980, the Extension School as well. During this time, he and his wife lived in Quincy House as resident tutors.

He continued to work at the Extension School until last spring, although he was in a wheelchair due to a broken hip.

Raymond was born in Newark, New Jersey, on June 19, 1917, and graduated from Montclair State Teachers’ College in 1942. He served in the Army Air Corps during World War II and then went on to receive an MBA from HBS in 1947 and a doctorate from the Harvard School of Education in 1957.

In 1989, the Extension School awarded him the Joann Fussa Distinguished Teaching Award and in 1994, HBS followed suit, presenting him with a Distinguished Service Award.

Raymond was also very involved in non-profit work and led many training courses for an audience ranging from museum directors to police chiefs.

Raymond is survived by his wife; a stepson, Geoffrey B. Clark; four brothers, and two grandchildren.

—Staff writer Alexandra C. Bell can be reached at acbell@fas.harvard.edu.