"Any candidate [for the presidency] will have a track record in organizational management, so you'll be able to judge from this record," Steiner said. "Through the combination of people on the search committee, you will be able to decide, but losing Mockler will hurt."

"A lot of people on the Corporation have experience across the board on a lot of things," Stone said. "I've had a lot of business experience and so has [search committee member and president of the Board of Overseers John C. Whitehead], but Mockler was a great help in the search."

While the Corporation members said they have not given the question of replacing Mockler much thought, his loss leaves the governing body without a major representative of the business world.

While many members said the Corporation will not automatically award Mockler's spot to another businessperson, the candidates from the business world will be closely considered, Steiner said.

"It should be taken into account what is now on the Corporation and what kind of experience and personal qualities will add most to the group," Steiner said. "If you had three or four lawyers, you would not consider another lawyer. If you had no academics, you might look to academia."

"There are no niches in the Corporation, you can't position Mockler," Daniel said. "He didn't just bat clean-up or lead-off, you can't peg him that way."

Despite being born in St. Louis, Mockler had lived in New England for 40 years and was the only true "Bostonian" on the Corporation--a body which has traditionally always had local representation.

"25 years ago, almost everyone on the Corporation was from Boston," said Robert H. Scott, vice president for finance. "Geography will be a factor, but surely not the only one."

"Harvard is still very much a Boston institution, as opposed to a national one," Steiner said. "It's probably true enough that Bostonians will be considered."

Still taken aback by the suddenness of Mockler's death, most Corporation members are simply filled with regret at the loss of a man with "the utmost integrity," Scott said.

"With good sound business judgement on the finances of the University, he added a great deal," Stone said. "He will be a hard man to replace.