The Exemplars

Philip Keene Photograph by Jim Harrison Bertha Offenbach Fineberg Photograph by Jim Harrison The oldest graduates of Harvard and...

Philip Keene
Photograph by Jim Harrison
Bertha Offenbach Fineberg
Photograph by Jim Harrison

The oldest graduates of Harvard and Radcliffe present on Commencement day, who led the alumni pararde into Tercentenary Theatre before the Harvard Alumni Association’s annual meeting, were 96-year-old Bertha Offenbach Fineberg ’31, M.D., of Gloucester, Massachusetts, and 102-year-old Philip Keene ’25, S.M. ’40, of Middletown, Connecticut, who was making his fourth appearance in that role and celebrating his eightieth reunion.

According to University records, the oldest alumni, apart from Keene, include: James G. Jameson ’22, Ed.M ’26, 105, of Orlando, Florida; Albert H. Gordon ’23, M.B.A. ’25, LL.D. ’77, 103, of New York City; Marion Coppelman Epstein ’24, 102, of Boston; M. Louise Macnair ’25, 102, of Cambridge; Halford J. Pope ’25, M.B.A. ’27, 101, of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; Edward Gipstein ’27, 100, of New London, Connecticut; Marjorie B. Walden ’26, 99, of Needham, Massachusetts; Stanley Kunitz ’26, A.M. ’27, 99, of New York City; Rose Depoyan ’26, Ed.M. ’38, 99, of Brockton, Massachusetts; Saul L. Fox ’27, M.D. ’31, 98, of West Hollywood—and Walter J. Seward, J.D. ’24, 108, of West Orange, New Jersey.

 

Most popular

What Trump Means for John Roberts’s Legacy

Executive power is on the docket at the Supreme Court.

This Harvard Scientist Is Changing the Future of Genetic Diseases

David Liu has pioneered breakthroughs in gene editing, creating new therapies that may lead to cures.

Three Harvardians Win Macarthur Fellowships

A mathematician, a political scientist, and an astrophysicist are honored with “genius” grants for their work.

Explore More From Current Issue

Catherine Zipf smiling, wearing striped shirt and dark sweater outdoors.

Preserving the History of Jim Crow Era Safe Havens

Architectural historian Catherine Zipf is building a database of Green Book sites.  

Two women in traditional kimonos, one lighting a cigarette, in a scene from Apart from You.

Harvard Film Archive Spotlights Japanese Director Mikio Naruse

A retrospective of the filmmaker’s works, from Floating Clouds to Flowing

Book cover of "Black Moses" by Caleb Gayle with subtitle about ambition and the fight for a Black state.

Civil Rights In the American West

A new book chronicles one man’s quest for a Black state.