From a third-floor office in Mass. Hall, a self-described “goof-off” in a brightly-colored tie keeps watch over how Harvard presents itself to the rest of the world.

His walls are decorated with a set of prints by Daumier—the 19th century French painter whose works advocated for the poor—and pictures of himself advising President Clinton and Sen. George McGovern.

His resume is a grab bag.

Alan J. Stone has worked on providing legal aid to poor people in rural Colorado and Worcester, Mass. He’s worked on hunger legislation with McGovern. He organized the Democrats in the Senate during Ronald Reagan’s first term. He also wrote speeches for Clinton.

He’s been all over the political map but since November, he’s worked in an office in Mass. Hall.

As one of Harvard’s five vice presidents, Stone is responsible for keeping up Harvard’s relationships with the press, for lobbying in Washington and for handling Harvard’s often-difficult relationships with Cambridge and Boston.

And University President Lawrence H. Summers bills Stone as one of his “most trusted advisors.”

Although his job may sound like anything but, he uses the word “fun” a good deal when he talks about his life, with a mischievous wiggle of the eyebrows. He’ll turn anything into a joke—his sense of humor knows no boundaries.

But his light-hearted nature can be deceptive.

A quintessential baby boomer, Stone has held a wide variety of jobs—but all along the way he’s been the behind-the-scenes man, the guy with the boss’s ear and also the man with a plan to help the people.

‘Kind of a Goof-Off’

A Chicago native, Stone was born in 1944 to Russian immigrant parents who ran the second-largest laundry in all of Chicago, he says with a certain pride.

As a child, he ran for president of his junior high school on a platform—though he doesn’t exactly remember what that platform was.

“I’m sure I was a reformist though,” he chuckles.

“Not a very serious student” in high school, he recalls that he “took the SATs and my advisors said, ‘Gee, why aren’t you a better student.’”