S. Allen Counter Has Died

The director of the Harvard Foundation passed away after a brief illness.

S. Allen Counter has died after a brief illness. Counter was the inaugural and longtime director of the Harvard Foundation for Intercultural and Race Relations, and was a part-time professor of neurology at Harvard Medical School. His speech at the Phi Beta Kappa ceremony in 2015 was covered in this magazine. A brief obituary appears on the Harvard College website.

An example from the magazine’s archives of how his work changed Harvard appears in this article describing how the Harvard Foundation began commissioning oil portraits of minority and female Harvardians for display on campus.
 

 

 

Read more articles by Jonathan Shaw

You might also like

Radcliffe Acquires a Black Feminist’s Archive

An architect of Black women’s studies, Barbara Smith introduced the concepts of “identity politics” and “intersectionality.”

Öberg to Lead Harvard Faculty Recruitment and Retention

The astrochemist will become senior vice provost for faculty affairs this summer.

The Celts in Art and Imagination

A new exhibition at the Harvard Art Museums traces 2,500 years of Celtic art.

Most popular

One of Harvard’s Oldest Structures Is Hiding Behind a Beer Garden

A crumbling wall in Harvard Square holds centuries of the city’s story, if you know how to read it.

Trump Administration Sues Harvard over Civil Rights

The March 20 suit seeks to rescind research grants that were restored in an earlier court ruling.

Can We Disagree Better? A Harvard Professor Has Tips.

Kennedy School professor of public policy Julia Minson on how to improve political conversations

Explore More From Current Issue

Illustration of a person sitting on a large cresting wave, writing, with a sunset and ocean waves in vibrant colors.

How Stories Help Us Cope with Climate Change

The growing genre of climate fiction offers a way to process reality—and our anxieties.

A close-up of a beetle on the textured surface of a cycad cone and cycad cones seen in infrared silhouette.

Research in Brief

Cutting-edge discoveries, distilled

Firefighters battling flames at a red building, surrounded by smoke and onlookers.

Yesterday’s News

How a book on fighting the “Devill World” survived Harvard’s historic fire.