HGSE Remembers Nathan Glazer

Harvard Graduate School of Education is remembering Nathan Glazer, noted sociologist and professor emeritus of education and social structure at Harvard. Glazer passed away last month at the age of 95 in Cambridge.

Glazer’s career spanned coasts, ideologies, and sectors. He worked for the Kennedy administration’s Housing and Home Finance Agency and was a consultant on President Lyndon B. Johnson’s Model Cities program. Glazer co-authored The Lonely Crowd, widely considered a landmark text in American sociology. In 1963, he published Beyond the Melting Pot, a study on ethnicity and assimilation, with the sociologist and politician Daniel Moynihan. He also served as a contributor and editor — a position he held for 30 years — to The Public Interest, a prominent public policy journal.

He received his doctorate in sociology from Columbia University in 1962 and joined the Harvard faculty 1969. Throughout his academic career was the recipient of honorary degrees from multiple colleges and universities, several Fulbright grants, and a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship.

“Nathan leaves a legacy as an influential and leading social science researcher and thought leader who spent his career grappling with issues of race, ethnicity, and education...,” wrote Dean Bridget Terry Long in an email to the HGSE community. “Although I did not have the chance to meet Nathan, I know many in our community and across the university considered him a friend and colleague.”

Glazer is survived by his wife, Mrs. Lochi Glazer; by three daughters, Sarah Glazer Khedouri, Elizabeth Glazer, and Sophie Glazer; seven grandchildren, and two great-grandchildren.

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