Virtually all of the 500 people at last fall's dinner party that capped off the University's $2.6 billion capital campaign were well dressed and even better connected.

And one man in the crowd could name nearly all the others. The chief engineer of the event, he quite literally looms large: Robert Gregg Stone Jr. '45, chair emeritus and director of the Kirby Corporation.

His magnetism is legendary, his handshake practiced, his voice booming. And whoever wants to be the president of Harvard will have to impress him.

One University administrator says Stone's got a sixth sense about people.

"Bob Stone has uncanny instincts," says Vice President for Finance Elizabeth C. "Beppie" Huidekoper.

During the course of his career Stone has wielded more influence over Harvard than almost anyone, save its presidents.

He himself has given a considerable amount of money to the University. Before Corporation meetings, he often eats breakfast at the Faculty Club with students on financial aid, his preferred area of donation. In the summer, he virtually resides at the New York Yacht Club--in fact, he's notorious for wining and dining potential contributors there.

He has chaired numerous fundraising drives, including this most recent, the University-wide campaign which surpassed its goal by half a billion. He is personally responsible for sealing many of the deals that brought in that money.