History
Founded in 1857, the Harvard Club of Chicago is the oldest continuously operating Harvard Club in the world. It is also one of the largest urban clubs with a membership of more than 1,000 alumni out of approximately 10,000 in the Chicago region.
Limited Edition 1857 - 2007: The Harvard Club of Chicago Book
For those interested in the detailed account of our Club’s history from 1857-2007, you can purchase the Limited Edition book here.
“It was probably the year 1857 that Charles A. Gregory and the present scribe met by chance one day in the early summer, and inquired each of the other, ‘How many sons of Harvard now dwell in Chicago?’ and one answered, ‘Peradventure we be five.’ Whereupon it was agreed that as many as such could be sound should be summoned to eat, drink, and make merry in good fellowship and in loving memory of Alma Mater.
So said, so done. So far as my memory goes, the men who then met were Samuel s. Greeley, 1844; Dr. Charles G. Smith, 1847; Dr. Edward L. Holmes, 1849; Charles A. Gregory, 1855, and probably Frederick P. Fisher, 1848, five in all.”
-Samuel Sewall Greeley, Class of 1844, Harvard Graduates’ Magazine June 1903
Harvard Club of Chicago Presidents
1957-2026
1957-1958
Francis Lee Higginson Wendell AB 38
1958-1959
Frederick William Burnham, AB 30 MBA 32
1959-1960
Rudy Lamont Ruggles, AB 31 LLB 34
1960-1961
John Douglas Hastings LLM 33
1961-1962
John Colville Donnelly AB 26 MBA 28
1962-1963
Philip Whitford Kirkland Sweet, Jr AB 50
1963-1964
Denison Bingham Hull
1964-1965
Frank Lyman Bixby AB 50
1965-1966
Austin Lowell Wyman, Jr AB 48
1966-1968
Christopher George Janus SB 36
1968-1969
William McKee Dunn AB 30
1969-1970
Joseph May Greeley AB 25 MBA 27
1970-1971
John Williams Stimpson AB 58
1971-1973
Eugene Perry Heytow AB 55
1973-1975
Edward Hutchins Hickey AB 33 LLB 36
1975-1976
Lawrence Howe AB 42
1976-1978
Vern Kenneth Miller SB 42
1978-1980
William Putney Hall AB 45 MBA 48
1980-1982
Alan Howard Hammerman AB 55
1982-1984
Stephen Longfellow Seftenberg AB 56 LLB 59
1984-1986
Mari De Costa Terman AB 57
1986-1987
Leo F. Mullin AB 64 MS 65 MBA 67
1987-1989
Thomas Stuart James AB 52 AMP 75
1989-1991
Quentin George Heisler AB 65 JD 68
1991-1993
Richard Carl Burnstine AB 50 MD 4
1993-1994
Charles Ephraim Zeitlin AB 53 LLB 56
1994-1996
Desmond C. Wong MBA 77
1996-1998
Irwin K. Carson AB 66
1998-2000
Craig I. Coit AB 73
2000-2002
Kenneth V. Hachikian AB 71 MBA 73
2002-2004
John A. Challenger AB 77
2004-2006
Robert Allen Hastings AB 57 MBA 59
2006-2008
Margaret I. McCurry LF 86/87
2008-2010
Paul L. Choi AB 86 JD 89
2010-2012
Richard W. Shepro AB 75 JD 79
2012-2014
Kellogg Fairbank III AB63
2014-2016
Bruce A. Hochstadt AB 81
2016-2018
David R. Scherer AB 93
2018-2020
Robert T. Bernat JD 80
2020-2022
Charles S. Bergen AB 77 JD 81
2022-2024
Dr. Jason L. Koh AB 90
2024-2026
Blasko C. Ristic AB 91
Historical Highlights
1887-2007
1887
1888
1890
1896
1898
1911
1914
1917
1924-1934
1984 & 1988
1996
2001
2007