Over 500 of Harvard's wealthy and powerful alumni and friends descended on Cambridge this weekend for the University's Capital Campaign Celebration, the capstone of the major project of President Neil L. Rudenstine's tenure.

The guest list for the glitzy day-long event Saturday included longtime Harvard donors and fundraisers who were a pivotal part of the University's staggeringly successful six-year fundraising drive.

The University-wide Capital Campaign ended Dec. 31, 1999, exceeding its $2.1 billion aim by half a billion dollars, with 174,378 people contributing.

Sanders Theatre was full Saturday morning, when Rudenstine delivered an hour-long address. He elicited more than the usual share of laughs from the audience as he detailed the University's previous financial problems.

One challenge of the campaign, he said, was "the perception that Harvard did not need any more money or resources than it already had." He said Harvard has faced this perception for over a century, but the demands of being on the leading edge of academics and research have constantly increased expenses.

He also spoke about how the campaign got Harvard affiliates more involved with the school.

A lot of people affiliated with the University "had not even been waved at for a very long time" before the campaign, he said. "Suddenly they were all lavished with decanal, provostial and presidential attention," he said.

Rudenstine is well known for his willingness to call potential contributors himself. He has expended an enormous amount of effort on the campaign since 1994. His fundraising abilities were a primary consideration in his selection as Harvard's president in 1991.