Gifford Combs misses his thirty-third Commencement

A broken ankle snaps a Commencement streak.

Even in the hospital, Gifford Combs celebrated Commencement.

Gifford Combs ’80 took an unfortunate tumble on some steps in midtown Manhattan a week and a half before Commencement, breaking his left ankle in two places. He has been hospitalized since.

Because Combs had attended every Commencement since the spring of his freshman year (except in 1982, when he was living in China), his Weld Hall and Eliot House roommate, David Scheinberg ’80, offered to recruit a team of classmates to wheel Combs and his hospital bed into Tercentenary Theatre for today’s ceremony. Combs decided he’d better stay in bed in New York, where his ankle is on the mend, but the photograph he forwarded shows where his heart lies. And, he reported, his surgeon, John P. Lyden ’61, is in Cambridge this week, celebrating his fiftieth reunion.

 

Related topics

You might also like

How Women Are Changing the NBA

From coaching staffs to front offices, female leaders are bringing new strategies to men’s basketball.

How to Cook with Wild Plants

From wild greens spanakopita to rose petal panna cotta, forager and chef Ellen Zachos makes one-of-a-kind meals.

For This Poet, AI is a Writing Partner

Sasha Stiles trained a chatbot on her manuscripts. Now, her poems rewrite themselves.

Most popular

Harvard Law Professor Explains the AI Battle Between Tech and Government

Jonathan Zittrain compares today’s conflicts to tensions surrounding the early internet.

At Harvard, Mitt Romney Warns Against ‘Authoritarian’ Presidential Power

The former senator touched on polarization, tech governance, and diplomacy during a conversation at the Institute of Politics.

250 Years Ago, Harvard Was Home to a Revolution

A look at the sights, sounds, and characters that put the University on the frontlines of history

Explore More From Current Issue

A woman with long hair leans on a table, looking out a large window with rain-streaked glass.

A Harvard Economist Probes the Affordable Housing Crisis

From understanding gender pay gaps to the housing crisis, Rebecca Diamond’s research aims to improve lives.

Historical battle scene with soldiers in red and blue uniforms, flags waving, chaotic action.

The Harvard-Trained Doctor Who Urged a Revolution

Before his heroic death, General Joseph Warren was dubbed “the greatest incendiary in all of America.”

Colorful illustrated map of Colonial Cambridge and the Harvard College campus featuring buildings of the campus, houses, Cambridge Common, and the Charles River

250 Years Ago, Harvard Was Home to a Revolution

A look at the sights, sounds, and characters that put the University on the frontlines of history