According to his high school classmate Jerome I. Levinson ’53, the transition was difficult for Verba because they were part of the first wave of Jewish students and public-school students to enter Harvard. No more than two students in any year had ever matriculated to Harvard from James Madison until four did in 1949, Levinson says.

“[Verba] has always felt a deep debt to Harvard for taking this kid out of New York and making him what he is today,” Shepsle says.

Although Harvard may have been a culture shock for Verba, he immediately fit in intellectually.

Donald M. Gleason ’53, a classmate of Verba’s at James Madison, describes him “a brilliant young man [and] a very hard worker.”

Gleason, who roomed with him freshman year in Thayer 23 and later in Leverett House, recalls their late-night intellectual arguments. These conversations were marked by Verba’s sense of humor, Gleason says, which often relied on “esoteric” academic references.

Gleason and Levinson both say they are not surprised by Verba’s success.

“He was ticketed for success, because of his superior intellect,” says Levinson. “We all knew that—it wasn’t as if anyone was surprised.”

Out of the Office

The accomplished academic insists that he does not have any hobbies.

“One of my recreations is sitting at my computer doing statistical analysis on social science data,” Verba says.

But he does manage to escape the Yard to spend time with his three middle-aged daughters and wife of 49 years.

Verba married his wife, Cynthia, during his first year of graduate school after meeting her at a summer camp between his sophomore and junior years at Harvard.

He says he enjoys hiking and traveling with her to see their two daughers who live in California.

And—as befits a library director—he is an avid reader. The four walls of his Littauer office are lined with shelves overflowing with books.

Verba says he prefers to read novels in his spare time, mixing contemporary fiction with classics. He went through a phase where he would devote each summer to reading a thick Charles Dickens novel like Bleak House.