Alumni will play a crucial role in organizingand raising fund for the capital campaign,Rudenstine said yesterday.

The three national chairs are Stone, Richard L.Menschel and William F. Thompson '50. Menschel,who is a 1959 Business School graduate, said hewill also be chairing the campaign for the Schoolof Public Health. Thompson is a 1954 BusinessSchool graduate.

And Sharon E. Gagnon, president of the HarvardAlumni Association, said a network of more than1,000 of Harvard's 230,000 alumni will helpcoordinate the solicitation.

Harvard's first capital campaign was held in1904-05 and raised $2.5 million for facultysalaries.

The University's most recent major fund-raisingeffort was the Harvard Campaign of 1985, whichraised $358 million for the endowment,overshooting its goal by more than $100 million.

Many other schools have recently begun orcompleted fund drives.

Stanford began the first billion-dollar funddrive in 1986 and exceeded its $1.1 billion goalby $600 million.

In the Ivy League, the University ofPennsylvania recently completed a $1.3 billioneffort and Cornell, Columbia and Yale arepresently closing in on the billion-dollar mark.

Harvard's $2.1 billion goal eclipses by far theprevious record for a campaign target, Yale's $1.5billion effort.Photo Courtesy University Campaign, Ed.MalitskyROBERT G. STONE, JR. '45 chairs the campaigncommittee.