She said Harvard served Vellucci's political ambitions well as "a good foil for his populist kind of politics," adding that "when you scrape away the rhetoric," Vellucci is proud to coexist--if not cohabit--with the University.

"He tends to be a populist and relatively challenging of all institutions," said Jane H. Corlette, director of the University's governmental relations for health policy. For him, she said, "anything that comes cloaked in big money or big organization is something to be suspicious of."

Harvard isn't the only large entity to feel Vellucci's impact. The politician has left his mark on squares, streets and parks all over the city.

There are two Alfred E. Vellucci Parks in East Cambridge. The intersection of Quincy and Cambridge Streets outside Gund Hall is Dante Alighieri Square. Even Harvard Square has had some Vellucci-inspired names, including Christopher Columbus Square and, one St. Patrick's day long ago, Piazza Leprechano.

Among other revolutions in nomenclature was Vellucci's move to thwart conservative Harvard political scientists who referred to their institution as the Harvard School of Government. He won the Council's support to change Boylston St. to John F. Kennedy Street--forcing the K-School to put the name of the late president on its stationery, like it or not.

The mayor's respect for the Kennedy family is also said to be behind the naming of the Robert F. Kennedy Elementary School in East Cambridge. And his respect for Joseph DeGuglielmo, a former city manager, is now immortalized at the intersection of Brattle and Mt. Auburn Streets.