Henry Rosovsky (September 1, 1927 – November 11, 2022)Marquis Who's Who Biographies, retrieved via LexisNexis Academic was an American economist and academic administrator who served as dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences of

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

. Following a career as an economic historian specializing in East Asia, Rosovsky was named dean in 1973 by Harvard President

Derek Bok Derek Curtis Bok (born March 22, 1930) is an American lawyer and educator, and former president of Harvard University. Early life and education Bok was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania. Following his parents' divorce, he, his mother, brother and ...

. He served from 1973 to 1984 and, again, in 1990 to 1991. He also served as acting president of Harvard in 1984 and 1987. In 1985, Rosovsky became a member of Harvard's governing body, the

Harvard Corporation The President and Fellows of Harvard College, also called the Harvard Corporation or just the Corporation, is the smaller and more powerful of Harvard University's two governing boards. It refers to itself as the oldest corporation in the Western ...

, until 1997. He was the first Harvard faculty member to do so in a century. Rosovsky was a professor of economics and chair of Harvard's Department of Economics. He held the Geyser University Professorship Emeritus. He was married to retired former

Harvard Semitic Museum The Harvard Museum of the Ancient Near East (HMANE, previously the Harvard Semitic Museum) is a museum founded in 1889. It moved into its present location at 6 Divinity Avenue in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 1903. History Architectural firm A. ...

curator and author Nitza Rosovsky. Together they had three children, Leah, Judith, and Michael. In May 2020, Leah Rosovsky was appointed Stanford Calderwood Director of the

Boston Athenæum The Boston Athenaeum is one of the oldest independent libraries in the United States. It is also one of a number of membership libraries, for which patrons pay a yearly subscription fee to use Athenaeum services. The institution was founded in ...

Early life

Born in the

Free City of Danzig The Free City of Danzig (; ) was a city-state under the protection and oversight of the League of Nations between 1920 and 1939, consisting of the Baltic Sea port of Danzig (now Gdańsk, Poland) and nearly 200 other small localities in the surrou ...

(Gdańsk) to

Russian Jewish The history of the Jews in Russia and areas historically connected with it goes back at least 1,500 years. Jews in Russia have historically constituted a large religious and ethnic diaspora; the Russian Empire at one time hosted the largest po ...

parents, Rosovsky grew up speaking Russian, German, and French. At age 13, Rosovsky came to the United States in 1940 with his family. He served in the US Army from 1946 to 1947 and again from 1950 to 1952. In 1949, he received his A.B. degree from the

College of William and Mary The College of William & Mary (abbreviated as W&M) is a public research university in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Founded in 1693 under a royal charter issued by King William III and Queen Mary II, it is the second-oldest instit ...

and his Ph.D. degree from Harvard in 1959. He became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1949.

Career

Professorship

Rosovsky taught economics, history and Japanese studies at the

University of California at Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after the Anglo-Irish philosopher George Berkele ...

until 1965. He has taught as a visiting professor in Japan and Israel and has worked as a consultant with the United States government, the

Asian Development Bank The Asian Development Bank (ADB) is a regional development bank to promote social and economic development in Asia. The bank is headquartered in Metro Manila, Philippines and maintains 31 field offices around the world. The bank was establishe ...

, the

World Bank The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans and Grant (money), grants to the governments of Least developed countries, low- and Developing country, middle-income countries for the purposes of economic development ...

and

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

. In 2000, Rosovsky chaired the Task Force on Higher Education and Society with

Mamphela Ramphele Mamphela Aletta Ramphele (; born 28 December 1947) is a South African politician, anti-apartheid activist, medical doctor and businesswoman. She was a partner of anti-apartheid activist Steve Biko, with whom she had two children. She is a form ...

. The Task Force was convened by the

and

to explore the future of higher education in developing countries. Its report, ''Peril and Promise'', argued that higher education systems in poor countries are in crisis and made a case for renewed investment, curricular reform and improved standards of

governance Governance is the overall complex system or framework of Process, processes, functions, structures, Social norm, rules, Law, laws and Norms (sociology), norms born out of the Interpersonal relationship, relationships, Social interaction, intera ...

Publications

Rosovsky is the author of ''Capital Formation in Japan'' (1961), ''Quantitative Japanese Economic History'' (1961),'' Japanese Economic Growth'' (with K. Ohkawa, 1973) and
The University: An Owner's Manual
' (1990). He also edited ''Industrialization in Two Systems'' (1961), ''Discord in the Pacific'' (1972),'' Asia's New Giant: How the Japanese Economy Works'' (with H. Patrick, 1976), ''Favorites of Fortune'' (with P. Higonnet and D. Landes, 1991)'' and The Political Economy of Japan: Cultural and Social Dynamics'' (with Shumpei Kumon, 1992). Thomas Short of '' Commentary'' magazine praised ''The University'' as "a cozy book" in which Rosovsky, with "a humorous, relentlessly self-deprecating manner," shares "many anecdotes from his own career in higher education."

Awards

In 1981, Rosovsky received th
Encyclopædia Britannica Achievement in Life Award for Achievement in Education
in 1987, received the Golden Plate Award of the

American Academy of Achievement The American Academy of Achievement, colloquially known as the Academy of Achievement, is a nonprofit educational organization that recognizes some of the highest-achieving people in diverse fields and gives them the opportunity to meet one ano ...

, and, in 1992, the Clark Kerr Medal for service to Higher Education from the University of California at Berkeley. In 1984 the French government made him a Chevalier of the

Legion of Honor The National Order of the Legion of Honour ( ), formerly the Imperial Order of the Legion of Honour (), is the highest and most prestigious French national order of merit, both military and civil. Currently consisting of five classes, it was ...

; in 1988 he was awarded the Order of the Sacred Treasure (Star) by the Government of Japan. He was a member of both the

American Academy of Arts and Sciences The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (The Academy) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and other ...

and the

American Philosophical Society The American Philosophical Society (APS) is an American scholarly organization and learned society founded in 1743 in Philadelphia that promotes knowledge in the humanities and natural sciences through research, professional meetings, publicat ...

Death

Rosovsky died from cancer in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on November 11, 2022, at the age of 95.

Legacy

Harvard Hillel

Rosovsky was active i
Harvard Hillel
throughout his time at Harvard. Harvard Hillel's building
Rosovsky Hall
was named after him in recognition of his leadership in the university's Jewish life and to acknowledge his role as the firs
Jewish member of the Harvard Corporation
the university's highest governing body. Rosovsky Hall was designed by architect, urban planner, educator, theorist, and autho
Moshe Safdie.
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References

External links

Task Force on Higher Education website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Rosovsky, Henry 1927 births 2022 deaths American economists American people of Russian-Jewish descent Harvard University alumni Harvard University faculty College of William & Mary alumni University of California, Berkeley faculty Immigrants to the United States People from the Free City of Danzig Fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences Naturalized citizens of the United States Members of the American Philosophical Society Knights of the Legion of Honour Recipients of the Order of the Sacred Treasure American people of Polish-Jewish descent