President Emeritus Nathan Marsh Pusey '28, and his wife Anne Woodward Pusey, headed a list of eight honorary degree recipients at today's 321st Commencement Exercises in Tercentenary Theatre.

Pusey, who retired last June 30, was joined by five other men and two women who received honorary degrees. Two recipients--MIT economist Paul A. Samuelson and Elma Lewis, the director of the National Committee of Afro-American Artists--are from the Boston area.

Other recipients were: novelist Saul Bellow, Canadian educator Northrup Frye, British diplomat Roy H. Jenkins, and educator James A. Shannon.

The University bestowed 12 honorary degrees last year--to ten men and two women.

Pusey retired last year to head the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation in New York City. He announced his retirement early in 1970--ten months after the April 1969 takeover of University Hall--and thereby put into gear one of the most elaborate search procedures for a successor ever devised. Another of today's degree recipients, Paul Samuelson, was among those considered by the Corporation to replace Pusey.

Pusey came to Harvard in 1954, succeeding James B. Conant '14, and during his 17-year tenure. Harvard's growth statistics were perhaps the most impressive of any university in the United States. The University's annual budget increased from $39 million to $188 million, the number of endowed chairs increased twofold to 277, and the Federal share of the budget grew from one tenth to one third.

As President, Pusey rebuilt the Divinity School, recruiting men like Paul Tillich and Krister Stendhal, and he provided new housing for the Education and Design Schools. Under his leadership, Harvard built skyward for the first time; Pusey oversaw the completion of Leverett and Mather Houses, as well as William James Hall. The Science Center outside the Yard--scheduled for completion next fall--is the last of the building projects planned under the Pusey Administration.

But for all of his ability to raise money and coordinate growth, Pusey lost touch with the student body--and for all practical purposes, the faculties--after the mid 60s. He provided central services, but not educational leadership. And, after 1969, he was isolated in Massachusetts Hall with only a few close aides on whom to lean; even his administrative abilities were faltering amid increasing dissension within the University. The Corporation, and its appointed emissary--Archibald Cox '34, Williston Professor of Law--took an ever-expanding role in the day-to-day operations of the University.

Today, Pusey came back to Harvard to receive a traditional Doctor of Laws. The citation read: "Patient teacher, man of faith, for 18 years our generous President--farsighted, compassionate, courageous; through his leadership the capacities of Harvard were larger and our nation's goals for education confirmed."

Pusey, age 71, first came to Harvard as an undergraduate, receiving an A.B. in 1928; he later was awarded a Ph.D. in Classics, in 1937. He then taught at Scripps College, Wesleyan University, and Lawrence College, where he was president from 1944 until 1953. He was born in Council Bluff, Iowa.

Anne Woodward Pusey, the proper and dignified wife of the former President, today was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters. The citation read: "Gracious and radiant lady, devoted wife and mother; her friendly concern for the families of Harvard made a true partnership of the presidency."

In addition to her official duties as Pusey's wife, Anne Pusey was known for her helpfulness to younger faculty members and to graduate and foreign students in the University. The tea she and Dr. Pusey hosted for each incoming freshman class never failed to awe half of the newcomers, amuse others and leave still others altogether bewildered.

Periodically throughout the school year, a brief note would appear on the front page of The Crimson inviting faculty members to Sunday afternoon tea at 17 Quincy Street, where the Puseys resided for 17 years and reared three children. Their son, James R. Pusey '62, is currently a teaching fellow in East Asian Studies here.

For many years, Pusey served as a trustee of the International Students Association of Greater Boston; she was also a member of the board of the Cambridge Community Center, the Avon Home, and she was a volunteer worker at Peter Bent Brigham Hospital, Harvard's teaching hospital in Roxbury.

She graduated from Bryn Mawr College in 1936.