Melhorn says Gomes aggravated budget deficitsby throwing "lavish" parties at the expense ofMemorial Church.
In addition, Melhorn says most of the partieswere catered by Peasant Stock, a Somervillecatering firm owned by one of Gomes' formerclassmates.
Melhorn says the church provided Peasant Stockwith about $35,000 in business in 1986. Thecatering firm is owned by Gerald S. Pierce, a 1968Divinity School classmate of Gomes.
Melhorn provided The Crimson with copies ofreceipts for functions catered by Peasant Stock,including a birthday party and an informal dinner,totaling about $1200.
Pierce, who says he has catered Memorial Churchfunctions for eight years, denied that Gomescharged the church for catering at personalparties.
Pierce says he catered events held at SparksHouse, and that those events were always "officialUniversity functions to which professors orstudents would be invited."
"Every function that I have ever catered for[Gomes] has had an academic purpose in mind," saysPierce. "I can't every remember any function thatcan be called 'personal.' Any catering I did forGomes was all church related."
Melhorn also says Gomes used church fund forother personal expenditures, but could notsubstantiate the charges.
Melhorn's Termination
Melhorn provided The Crimson with his 1986termination letter from Gomes. The four-pageletter details grievances against Melhorn,including financial mismanagement, administrativenegligence and poor relations with staff members.
After his dismissal, Melhorn says he filed acomplaint with former President Derek C. Bok.
He says he appealed to a special arbitrationcommittee and was represented by Ramsay Professorof Managerial Economics Howard Raiffa. UniversityAttorney Anne Taylor confirmed that Raiffarepresented Melhorn at the hearing.
Melhorn says Raiffa cautioned him againstpursuing the case against Gomes. Raiffa has notreturned return repeated phone calls from TheCrimson.
The University settled with Melhorn in November1987, awarding him back-pay up to the time of thehearing and accepting his resignation instead offiring him, Melhorn says.
He says Harvard met all of his demands.
"Harvard recognized that I had been wronged andthey wanted to settle this thing," says Melhorn.
Melhorn lives in San Diego, Calif., where hesays he works as a patient counselor. He says hissalary is now $19,000--a $26,000 drop from hisannual earnings at Harvard--and that he stillcannot find a good job.
Melhorn says he was employed by IBM for 27years, and served as chief financial officer ofthe United Methodist Church in Portland, Ore.,before becoming Officer for Administration andDevelopment at Memorial Church in 1985