Harper was the first and only African American to serve on the Corporation in Harvard’s 369-year history. That’s a designation with which he is intimately familiar, having also been the first black partner at Simpson Thacher and Bartlett, the prestigious New York law firm, and the first black president of the New York City Bar Association.

Now, in semi-retirement, he serves as an infrequent adviser to the firm. A resident of Manhattan, he spoke this week from Cape Cod, where he was vacationing with his wife.

Though both of his parents were graduates of schools in Atlanta, Harper said they felt the city was still too segregated for a black student at the time.

“They thought it would be better for me to be in an environment where there were many able African Americans,” Harper recalled.

A classic intellectual who sometimes speaks in antiquated constructions—“I shall not comment,” he says repeatedly—Harper is an avid reader and active member of the Jane Austen Society of North America.

“Austen’s capacity to see insightfully into character is peerless,” said Harper, who questioned Summers’ own character in his resignation letter.

In his letter to Summers, Harper called his time on the Corporation “a highlight of my working life.” But in an interview, he would not say why that was so.

“I think I’ll leave that one alone,” he said.

—Staff writer Zachary M. Seward can be reached at seward@fas.harvard.