| Derek Bok | |
|---|---|
| 25th President of Harvard University | |
| In office 1971–1991 |
|
| Preceded by | Nathan M. Pusey |
| Succeeded by | Neil Leon Rudenstine |
| Acting President of Harvard University | |
| In office July 1, 2006 – June 30, 2007 |
|
| Preceded by | Lawrence Summers |
| Succeeded by | Drew Gilpin Faust |
| 7th Dean of Harvard Law School | |
| In office 1968–1971 |
|
| Preceded by | Erwin Griswold |
| Succeeded by | Albert Martin Sacks |
| Personal details | |
| Born | March 22, 1930 Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania |
| Spouse(s) | Sissela Bok |
| Children | Hilary Bok |
| Alma mater | Stanford University Harvard Law School George Washington University |
| Profession | Lawyer |
Derek Curtis Bok (born March 22, 1930) is an American lawyer and educator and the former president of Harvard University. He is the son of the prominent Pennsylvania jurist Curtis Bok and Margaret Plummer Bok;[1] the grandson of Mary Louise Curtis Bok Zimbalist, founder of the Curtis Institute of Music; and the great-grandson of Cyrus H. K. Curtis, founder of the Curtis Publishing Company, publisher of The Saturday Evening Post and the Ladies' Home Journal, the latter edited by his grandfather, Edward W. Bok.
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Bok was born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania and graduated from Stanford University (B.A., 1951), Harvard Law School (J.D., 1954), and George Washington University (A.M., 1958). He taught law at Harvard beginning in 1958 and served as dean of the law school there (1968–1971) and then as the university's 25th president (1971–1991). Bok currently serves as the faculty chair at the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard and continues to teach at the Harvard Graduate School of Education and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. Bok was the recipient of the 2001 Grawemeyer Award in education.
After fifteen years away from the Harvard presidency, Bok led the university on an interim basis from Lawrence Summers's resignation on July 1, 2006, until the beginning of the tenure of Drew Gilpin Faust on July 1, 2007.
Bok's wife, the sociologist and philosopher Sissela Bok, née Myrdal (daughter of the Swedish economist Gunnar Myrdal and the politician and diplomat Alva Myrdal, both Nobel laureates), is also affiliated with Harvard, where she received her doctorate in 1970. His daughter, Hilary Bok, is a philosophy professor at Johns Hopkins University.
| Academic offices | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Nathan M. Pusey |
President of Harvard University 1971–1991 |
Succeeded by Neil L. Rudenstine |
| Preceded by Lawrence H. Summers |
President of Harvard University acting 1 July 2006–30 June 2007 |
Succeeded by Drew Gilpin Faust |
| Preceded by Erwin Griswold |
Dean of Harvard Law School 1968–1971 |
Succeeded by Albert Martin Sacks |
|
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Derek Bok in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.