When Knowles announced his resignation, professors said it would be difficult to imagine anyone matching his charismatic leadership.
But colleagues said Kirby has his own type of charm—a “warm and witty” sense of humor that will earn him friends among faculty members.
“His wit is just marvelous,” Fash said. “I’ve been in a number of different meetings...in which people will start to get worked up about something. And when people start to get a little edgy, he can sense that right away, and somehow in a nanosecond he comes up with the most surprising joke that completely deflates all the tension in the room.”
Coolidge Professor of History and History Department Chair David G. Blackbourn said Kirby also has an ability to develop personal connections.
“It’s not just his sense of humor, but he has a tremendous ease of manner,” Blackbourn said. “He makes people feel that he listens to them—in that sense he has some of the qualities that Neil Rudenstine had.”
—Staff writer Kate L. Rakoczy can be reached at rakoczy@fas.harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Dan Rosenheck can be reached at rosenhec@fas.harvard.edu.