Published on Tuesday, September 2

Franklin L. Ford, a former dean of the Faculty who spent nearly 40 years as a prominent member of the history department, died on Sunday at a retirement home in Lexington, Mass., following complications from a stroke. He was 82.

During his tenure as dean, from 1962 to 1970, Ford navigated Harvard through tumultuous times, including the student takeover of University Hall, with his signature composure and tact.

As a professor, Ford was known for his understated style and generosity, as a mentor to many students, and as a model to his colleagues. His office hours in Widener had a waiting list.

As a scholar, Ford avoided specialization in a narrow field, conducting his research and teaching in several areas and time periods in Western European History. His efforts were rewarded with grants, accolades and prestigious fellowships.

In spite of the social turmoil that defined his deanship, Ford oversaw a period of great physical growth in Harvard’s history, authorizing the construction of the Science Center and Mather House, as well as the renovation of many buildings in Harvard Yard. In a 1968 profile in the Crimson, Ford was quoted as saying that his idea of improvement at Harvard was “doing more of some things without doing less of others.”

Friends and colleagues say Ford will be remembered as a tempering figure during contentious times at the University.

“He did what the great professors do—he was a great scholar and teacher. He was there all the time as a resource of advice and encouragement,” said Dean of the Faculty William C. Kirby, a history professor who earned his Ph.D. under Ford’s guidance.

Born in Waukeegan, Ill., in 1920, Ford graduated from the University of Minnesota in 1942. He served in the United States Army Signal Corps and the Office of Strategic Services, forerunner to the Central Intelligence Agency, doing intelligence work in Germany, studying the German resistance and visiting the liberated concentration camp at Dachow.

Ford went on to get his M.A. and Ph.D. from Harvard in 1948 and 1950, respectively, and taught at Bennington College from 1949 to 1952.

Ford first joined the Harvard faculty in 1953 as an assistant history professor specializing in 17th century France and modern Germany, although he quickly gained a reputation as a European historian with a broad area of expertise. He served as the Allston Burr Senior Tutor of Lowell House from 1956 to 1961. He received became a full professor in 1959 at the age of 39, and in 1968 was named McLean professor of ancient and modern history. Just three years later, he was named dean of the Faculty but continued to teach lecture and seminar courses for undergraduate and graduate students.

Kirby noted that Ford’s title reflected the breadth of his scholarship and the scope of his academic interest.

“He was a European historian who had interests ranging across French and German history in both the early and modern periods, which was very unusual in the post-World War II era, when historians increasingly specialized in one national history, and one period,” Kirby said.

Ford mentored some of today’s leading academic historians and wrote on diverse subjects ranging from Louis XIV to political assassination.

“I think [Ford’s] real strength was that, as the historical profession developed, there tended to be an emphasis on national histories, and he really didn’t do that—he wrote on multicultural concerns,” said Thomas C. Childers, Hackney professor of history at the University of Pennsylvania, who studied under Ford from 1971 to 1976. “He was cosmopolitan and comparative, that was his strength.”

Ford was known for his meticulously organized lectures, delivered with his signature dry humor.