Harvard's new provost is a thoughtful man who has quietly won the respect of his colleagues, and, some say, has made the University his adopted family.

Quietly is the operative word here. Jerry Richard Green, like the position he will fill beginning this summer, is still somewhat unknown to most Harvard students, faculty and staff. For most of his 20 years at the University, the Wells professor of political economy has remained behind the scenes, teaching, serving on committees and churning out academic papers.

With the exception of three years as chair of the economics department between 1984 and 1987, Green has kept a relatively low public profile. He has never taken a leave of absence to serve as a government official, and his name has rarely appeared in the press.

That is all likely to change, as today's announcement of Green's appointment to the provost job vaulted him to a lofty post within the University and the nation's higher education community.

The story of Green's rise to power begins in Manhattan. Green, whose father was in the hardware business, attended public schools in New York. From Stuyvesant High School, he went on to the University of Rochester, where he earned his undergraduate, master's and doctoral degrees.

Since 1970--before most current undergraduates were born--Green has been a professor at Harvard. The economist currently serves as chair of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences Retirement Policy Committee. He also chairs the Committee on Professional Conduct and sits on several other faculty committees.

Green has also been a member of the faculty Council.

Department colleagues have described Green as an organized, hardworking individual who would make a good provost.

"He has a deep concern for the University and its constituent parts, students and faculty," says Barker Professor of Economics Stephen A. Marglin '59.

At the press conference where the appointment was announced yesterday, President Neil L. Rudenstine called Green "a person who's been extremely committed to Harvard."

Professor of Economics Eric S. Maskin '72, one of Green's closest colleagues, calls the new provost "a loyal Harvard citizen."

Green echoed those remarks at the press conference, saying, "Harvard is a truly unique institution. Its excellence has inspired a profound loyalty throughout the entire community."

Loyalty has paid off for Green, who will move into his new offices in Massachusetts Hall on July 1. Those who encounter the new provost there can expect to meet with a short. Mild-mannered, partly bald Jewish man whose voice still carries remnants of a New York accent.

"I can't think of a more decent and humane and conscientious and hardworking kind of man," Maskin says.

"He's modest, but he's not shy about making decisions," Rudenstine says of his new second-in-command.