Former Dean Delmar Leighton Dies; Had Served College for Forty Years

Delmar Leighton '19, former Dean of the College, died of a heart attack Thursday at his summer home in St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada. He was 69 years old.

Leighton, known as 'the dean of deans,' counseled students and guided undergraduate education at Harvard from 1922 to 1963 in a number of administrative positions.

In 1922 Leighton was appointed an assistant dean of the College. He later became the first Dean of Freshman chairman of the Board of Freshman Advisors, Dean of Students, and finally Dean of Harvard College.

As Dean of Freshmen from 1931 to 1952, Leighton organized the freshman year in the Yard arranging for the freshmen to be housed together in the historic dormitories of the O'd Yard He set up the present proctoring system by recruiting graduate student counselors, and organized the Board of Freshman Advisors. Leighton also converted the former student Union into the present Freshman Union and arranged for the freshman class to eat together there.

As Dean of Students and then Dean of Harvard College, Leighton help a plan the present Allston Barr Senior Tutor system. Through the Senior Tutor system the Houses began to take a more active part in developing relationships between faculty and students.

In 1958, Leighton left the office of Dean of the College to become the first Master of Dudley House, which had just been established for all non-resident students. Under his leadership, Dudley House, then on Dunster Street, developed activities comparable to those of the older residential Houses.

Leighton became an Instructor in Economics in 1926 and taught at the college for 21 years.

In addition to his duties as Dean, Leighton was a member of the Faculty Committee on Athletic Sports, and acting chairman of the Philips Brooks House Association Committee.

Outside the college, he was chairman of the Youth Division of the Cambridge YMCA, a director of the Harvard Cooperative Society, and vice president of the board of trustees of the Judge Baker Guidance Clinic.

Services will be held at noon today in Memorial Church.