A memorial service for former Harvard Business School (HBS) Assistant Director of Admissions Bert H. King in Burden Hall last night was attended by approximately 300 friends, colleagues and family members.

King, who died February 8 in Mount Auburn Hospital after complications resulting from an acute pancreatic attack, was 55 years old.

Speakers at the service included King's former Business School roommate Nicholas W. Noon, former Business School Dean Lawrence E. Fouraker and a representative of the school's African American Students Association.

King received his MBA from the school in 1970.

King was remembered for, among other things, his work as president and executive director of the Council for Opportunity in Graduate Management (COGME) from 1971 to 1984.

COGME was a consortium of ten leading business schools, including Harvard and MIT, designed to recruit outstanding minority students and provide them with financial aid and jobs after graduation.

More than 2000 minority business school students benefited from King's work with COGME, Robison Professor of Business Administration James A. Cash Jr. said last night.

Cash will succeed King in his role as Assistant Director of Admissions.

Dennis F. Hightower, who graduated HBS in 1974, said King was "in the business of opening doors...and show[ing] us the way to walk through."

"He instilled in us the will to rise against countless challenges," he added.

Senior Admissions Officer for Harvard and Radcliffe David L. Evans said it is important that King's work be remembered and continued in these "trying political times," referring to the recent controversy surrounding affirmative action.

King also served as vice president for institutional advancement at Howard University and director of corporate and foundation relations at Boston University before coming to Harvard.

He is survived by his wife and two children, his mother, three siblings and two aunts, among others.

Memorial services have been previously held in Cleveland, Ohio and Washington, D.C.