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.

He is on the board of directors of the Harvard Management Company, which manages the University's staggering $14.4 billion endowment. And for a quarter of a century, he has taken a seat among the six fellows of the Harvard Corporation, the highest governing body of the University.

Now it is time for Stone to put his stamp on the University once more, as he is faced with an unparalleled opportunity: sitting at the helm of the group that will choose the 27th president of Harvard.

People who know him say his decision will be heavily influenced by that famous gut instinct.

"He's not a resume looker," Huidekoper says.

"He's right there with the good judgement," says Charlotte P. Armstrong '49, a former president of the Board of Overseers.

He has already been party to one presidential selection--Rudenstine's.

Having had a hand in picking someone to help lead his pet project--the campaign--Stone's next project may be to select another to spend its fruit.

"Harvard has so many extraordinary resources," says Yale President Richard C. Levin. "A person of vision and imagination for how those resources might be used might be something to look for."

Stone did not return numerous calls for this article.