Necrology

R. D. Boyd Harman '62

Oct. 16, 1941-Jul. 29, 2024

Roy David Boyd Harman ’62 died on Sept. 29, 2024, in Park Ridge, Ill. Born on Oct. 16, 1941, in Oneonta, N.Y., he grew up in nearby Fort Plain. Boyd came to Hamilton from Phillips Exeter Academy in New Hampshire.

On the Hill, he joined Chi Psi fraternity, was a staff member of The Spectator in his first year, and in the Glee Club. In his first two years, Boyd was a member of the Student Christian Association and the French Club.

He was in something of a hurry concerning his undergraduate education. On his admission application, he indicated that he wanted to prepare for the “3-2” program at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, meaning three years of undergraduate study to be followed by two years of graduate study and culminating in a master’s degree. At the time, his principal interest lay in mathematics, but that would change.

The three-year program that Boyd pursued was the result of his receiving advanced standing in several areas, registering for more courses than the five that constituted a normal course load on the Hill, taking summer classes at Cornell University, and spending one summer in France, where he completed three courses at the University of Paris, after changing his major to French. He also took the opportunity to intern at a Paris branch of an American bank. He graduated with the Class of 1961, but his heart belonged to his matriculating Class of 1962.

By the time he was ready to graduate, Boyd’s interest lay in business management, and he entered the master’s program in industrial administration at what was then the Carnegie Institute of Technology (now Carnegie Mellon University) in Pittsburgh. Completing his degree in 1963, he went to work for Pittsburgh Plate Glass (now PPG Industries) in the finance department. In 1966, his job took him to PPG’s office in Crystal City, Mo., a suburb of St. Louis. His title was vice president for development.

In 1967, he moved to Chicago to become a financial officer and senior systems analyst for Bell & Howell, remaining with that company until 1991. On April 5, 1975, in Evanston, Ill., he married Janis Lindgren, whom he had met the previous year. In the fall of that year, they began a six-year residence in London where he served as finance director for Bell & Howell’s European division. On other occasions, he was based in Canada, Japan, and South America, and later became controller of the company’s international division.

After leaving Bell & Howell, Boyd went into banking, first as international banking officer and account associate in the Chicago offices of Westpac Banking Corp., a multinational firm based in Australia, and later for Société Générale, a French financial firm. He focused on credit administration and marketing.

Retiring in 2008, Boyd continued to reside in the Chicago area. He remained active as a volunteer, in several cases drawing upon his professional expertise. As a counselor for SCORE, an organization associated with the Small Business Association, he advised people who wanted to start their own businesses. He also mentored students at DePaul University’s College of Commerce. He gave time to the Mercy Home for Boys & Girls, the mission of which is to help children recover from abuse, neglect, and neighborhood violence in inner-city Chicago, and was a regular and generous donor to the Greater Chicago Food Depository, among other charities.

Residing in Glenview, Ill., a suburb north of the city, he was active in the Glenview Area Historical Society and, for 20 years, was a finance officer of the Valley Lo Sports Club. Boyd shared with Janis a love of long-distance lake swimming.

In his 50th reunion yearbook, Boyd singled out one Hamilton memory that meant a great deal to him: receiving from Professor George Nesbitt the second required “yes” on an essay in Freshman English. He also found Clinton’s winters “unforgettable.”

Boyd was a generous and regular donor to the College. He began supporting the Hamilton Fund the year he graduated, and gave to the Priorities for Hamilton campaign, 175th Anniversary Campaign, and Campaign for the ’90s. As early as 1972, he included a bequest to the College in his will and thus became one of the first Joel Bristol Associates. On Sept. 20, 2012, Boyd and Janis formalized a bequest to the College to establish the Janis and R.D. Boyd Harman ’61 Scholarship. Over the years, he donated more than $1 million and was consequently inducted into The Founders Circle. In addition, Boyd gave Hamilton a variety of in-kind gifts, including documents his father had preserved from his own days on the Hill, when tuition cost $65 and room and board was $194, as well as woodcuts by the American artist Winslow Homer.

Boyd also served the College as president of the Chicago Alumni Association, class committee chair, and volunteer for the Priorities for Hamilton campaign.

Predeceased by his father, Harry Overfield Harman ’30, P’62, Boyd Harman is survived by his wife.

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