A native of Boston. Winthrop his combined a successful business career with a strong interest in charitable causes, ranging from schools to wildlife preservation. A board member of several hospitals and schools near his Old Westbury, Long Island, home. Winthrop is a member of the Harvard Medical School's Overseers visiting committee and has served as President of the North American Wildlife Foundation.
After postgraduate study at Trinity College, Cambridge, and at the Business School. Winthrop joined his guard father's Wall Street firm of Robert Winthrop and Company, private bankers and members of the New York Stock Exchange--only weeks before the crash of 1929.
Winthrop recalled that period in his 25th reunion report: "The next three years were years of liquidation and grim years on Wall Street." The ensuing New Deal legislation, Winthrop wrote, "cut private bankers down to size."
The sluggish pace of business for the family firm during those years gave Winthrop the time to pursue outside activities, he wrote. Assessing the triumphs and the disappointments of his career in the report, he concluded: "I have no regrets that things turned out as they did for I have had a most satisfying life so far."
Winthrop went on to become senior partner of the firm and remained in that office until 1969, when he became honorary chairman.
The 79-year old financier has served as a trustee of Jericho Public School, the Greenvale School, and the Foxcrott School. His efforts with hospitals include serving as president of the boards of Nassau Hospital in Mineola, N.Y., and of the Presbyterian Hospital.
Winthrop's services to Harvard follow a family tradition of association with the University. Winthrop's father and two brothers attended Harvard as did several grandchildren.
Special Papers, prepared by Tammy Huang, Mary s. Humes, Holly A. Idelsott, Rebecca J. Joseph, Chuck Lane, Thomas J. Mayor, and Michael W. Miller.
President Bok this morning will confer honorary degrees on:
Carlos Fuentes, author and statesman;
Katharine Graham, chairman of the board, Washington Post Company;
Meyer Schapiro, art historian and critic, University Professor Emeritus at Columbia;
Victor F. Weisskopf, physicist, Institute Professor Emeritus at MIT;
E. Bright Wilson, Richards Professor of Chemistry Emeritus at Harvard;
Robert Winthrop '26, financier.