He recalled walking into the secretary’s office to find a vast, empty room, which looked as if it had never been used.

“Way in the corner was a little light in a kind of broom closet and there was Dunlop,” Bok said. “He had a total lack of pretension; he was more at home in a rundown office.”

During Dunlop’s short time as secretary he focused on practical implementation of policy that was already in place.

“He worked with the General Accounting Office to find out what really happens to this mass of Federal regulations about the workplace that exist,” Bok said. “John’s feeling was that people churn out these reams of paper rules and very often people out in the field don’t even know of their existence.”

Dunlop conducted a survey, which indicated that in fact a fairly high percentage of the rules were not known, Bok said.

Dunlop held a number of other government positions including director of the Cost of Living Council (1973-74), chair of the Construction Industry Stabilization Committee (1971-1974), and chair of the Commission of the Future of Worker / Management Relations (1993-1995).

“He shared his wisdom as an economist and labor negotiator not only with our students for nearly fifty years, but with the highest circles in our nation’s government,” Kirby wrote. “He shaped this school, and the world beyond this school. His strength and integrity will be missed.”

In the Beginning

Dunlop was born in Placerville, California in 1914, the oldest of 7 children.

His parents John and Antonia were Presbyterian missionaries who reared him in the Philippines.

After finishing high school there, Dunlop entered Marin Community College in California, shortly thereafter transferring to the University of California at Berkeley, where he earned his bachelors degree in 1935 and his Ph.D. in 1939.

Dunlop’s wife of 66 years, Dorothy Emily Webb died in February 2003.

He is survived by a daughter, Beverly Claire Donohue of New York City and two sons, John of Palo Alto, Calif. and Thomas of Belmont, Mass., as well as six grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.

Plans for a memorial service have not yet been announced.

—Staff writer Ella A. Hoffman can be reached at ehoffman@fas.harvard.edu.