The Senior Celebrants of 2009

Harvard’s most venerable alumni

Frances Pass Addelson

Frances Pass Addelson | Photograph by Stu Rosner

The oldest graduates of Harvard and Radcliffe present on Commencement day were Frances Pass Addelson ’30, 100, of Brookline, Massachusetts, and George Barner ’29, Ed ’32, L ’33, 100, of Kennebunk, Maine. Both were recognized at the afternoon ceremony by HAA president Walter H. Morris Jr. 

Photograph by Stu Rosner

George Barner

According to University records, the oldest alumni include: M. Louise Macnair ’25, 106, of Cambridge; Halford J. Pope ’25, M.B.A. ’27, 105, of Hilton Head Island, South Carolina; Edward Gipstein ’27, 104, of New London, Connecticut; Rose Depoyan ’26, Ed.M. ’38, 103, of Brockton, Massachusetts; Edith M. Van Saun ’29, 102, of Sykesville, Maryland; Amelia T. Rieman ’29, 102, of Tucson, Arizona; Priscilla Bartol Grace ’58, 102, of Woods Hole, Massachusetts; George H. O’Sullivan ’30, 101, of Wellesley Hills, Massachusetts; Ruth Smith ’29, 101, of New York City; and J. Mack Swigert ’30, 101, of Cincinnati, Ohio.

Related topics

You might also like

Plus, veteran higher education leader Thomas Ehrlich reflects on university curricula for his 70th reunion

In 2004, a frenzy spread across Harvard Yard in days. Four billion users later, we are only just catching up.

The play Spare Parts is a contemporary fable about the quest to live forever.

Most popular

The University will compensate families of those whose remains were sold and establish a scholarship to honor anatomical donors.

The division is launching a new fundraising effort to support 50 additional students.

A new book explores the Harvard-trained architect’s vision and impact, from Ground Zero to the Smithsonian.

Explore More From Current Issue

A flooded office scene with computers, a woman working, and a pink sunset backdrop.

A College student’s attempt to recapture the romanticism of the workplace.

Three young women posed side by side against red background.

The 2026-2027 Ledecky and Summer Undergraduate Fellows

A man in a suit speaks at a podium.

David Battat promotes alumni engagement.