Harvard Commencement’s oldest attendees

The oldest graduates at Commencement

Ruth Rabb and Leon Starr

Ruth Rabb and Leon Starr
Photographs by Jim Harrison

The oldest graduates of Harvard and Radcliffe present at Commencement were 99-year-old Ruth Rabb ’37, of New York City, and Leon Starr ’40, of Boston, due to turn 98 in July. Both were recognized during the afternoon ceremony by Harvard Alumni Association president Paul Choi ’86, J.D. ’89. Starr, whose seventy-fifth reunion was last year, was accompanied by his wife, Jacqueline. “There are a lot more women here than when I was at college,” he said, adding that the custom in his day, of having Harvard professors teach the men and then walk over to Radcliffe College to teach the women separately, “was cuckoo”; they should have “had the classes together.” Rabb, seated a few chairs away beside her daughter, Emily Livingston (wife of David Livingston ’61), said she was “very pleased to be a ’Cliffie,” although “it was awful in my day that we were not recognized.” Harvard does seem to run in the family: her late husband was Maxwell Rabb ’32, J.D. ’35, her other children include Bruce Rabb ’63 and Priscilla Rabb Ayres, M.B.A. ’69, and her grandson is Jeremy Maltby ’90. Rabb was glad when, in 2000, the College began granting only Harvard degrees, she added, “because now we’re on the same playing field.”

Related topics

You might also like

Harvard Commencement 2025

Harvard passes a test of its values, yet challenges loom.

Alumni Cheer on Harvard

At Alumni Day, ringing endorsements of Harvard’s fight

Paula Johnson at Harvard Medical School Convocation

Amid distrust of science, Paula Johnson tells medical and dental graduates to be “citizen-physicians.”

Most popular

What Trump Means for John Roberts's Legacy

Executive power is on the docket at the Supreme Court.

Harvard’s Endowment, Donations Rise—but the University Runs a Deficit

The annual financial report signals severe challenges to come.

Harvard Professor Michael Sandel Wins Philosophy’s Berggruen Prize

The creator of the popular ‘Justice’ course receives a $1 million award.

Explore More From Current Issue

Map showing Uralic populations in Eurasia, highlighting regional distribution and historical sites.

The Origins of Europe’s Most Mysterious Languages

A small group of Siberian hunter-gatherers changed the way millions of Europeans speak today.

A lively concert in a modern auditorium with an audience seated on multiple levels.

Concerts and Carols at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum

Tuning into one of Boston's best chamber music halls