Former House Master Dies at 99

Mason Hammond ’25, a classics professor and former House master who recovered stolen art during World War II, died Sunday. He was 99.

Hammond, who was the Pope professor of latin language and literature emeritus, first came to Harvard as an undergraduate in 1921.

His lengthy list of distinctions includes a Rhodes Scholarship and an honorary Doctor of Laws degree, presented to Hammond by former University President Neil L. Rudenstine in 1994.

“He considered receiving an honorary award his crowning achievement,” said his daughter, Anstiss Hammond Krueck.

“He truly was a son of Harvard.”

From 1942 to 1946, Hammond traveled through Sicily, Italy and Germany as a Monument, Fine Art and Archives Officer.

For his work recovering art that had been stolen by the Nazis, Hammond received the French Legion of Honor Award and was honored by the Italian and the Dutch governments.

After World War II, Hammond’s love of the classics led him to head the School of Classical Study at the American Academy in Rome. He twice served as the director of Harvard’s Villa I Tatti in Florence, the University’s center for renaissance studies.

Hammond’s scholarly resume boasts an impressive list of works ranging from Aeneas to Augustus: A Beginning Latin Reader for College Students, 2nd Edition to Miles Gloriosus to The City in the Ancient World.

He particularly enjoyed translating the works of Plautus, a comedic Roman playwright.

“He was by nature a historian, a pure scholar,” Krueck said.

Hammond served as master of Kirkland House from 1945-55 and was Lowell House’s first senior tutor, his daughter said.

Thomas Buckley ’49, a former Kirkland House resident who Hammond tutored, said he remembers the weekly teas Hammond held with his wife, Florence Pierson Hammond.

“He and my mother were a fantastic team,” Hammond’s daughter Krueck said. Hammond continued the weekly teas for two decades following his 1959 move to 153 Brattle St.

“He was not just a dry and shriveled scholar; he enjoyed the company of his fellow men very much,” Krueck said.

He loved the Signet Society and the communal table at the Harvard Faculty Club, she said.

Buckley said he remembers Hammond’s impressive knowledge of the subject matter in his survey course of latin literature and language.

“He let the material speak for itself. He had a senatorian voice, we all paid attention,” Buckley said.

Hammond’s commanding voice served the University at Commencement, where he was the “caller” who calls the classes to parade.

“One of his great loves was using his own voice to call together all of the sons of Harvard. He was mortified when he was asked to use a bullhorn,” Krueck said.

After retiring from Harvard, Hammond devoted himself to Harvard’s history. He researched the inscriptions above all of Harvard’s gates, stained glass windows on campus and the history of the Lowell House bells.

He undertook a massive project to compile and translate all the Latin inscriptions in and around the Harvard campus.

Hammond remained a well-known campus figure, who rode his bicycle everywhere and regularly attended Morning Prayer.

“Mason was the one who drew me in and got me interested. He was very faithful,” said Elliot Forbes, the Peabody professor of music emeritus.

Today the front pew in Memorial Church is called the Hammond row in his honor.

“He was a quintessential gentleman and a source of great encouragement,” Buckley said.

“He was a person of unshakeable integrity and loyalty and a deep commitment to scholarship, family, friends, and institutions,” said Zeph Stewart, the Mellon professor of humanities emeritus and Hammond’s close friend.

Stewart said Hammond had hoped to live until his 100th birthday, on Valentine’s Day.

Hammond is survived by his three daughters Florence Hammond Phillips, Anstiss Hammond Kruek, and Elizabeth Hammond Llewellyn, five grandchildren, and four greatgrandchildren.

His funeral is scheduled for Oct. 22, 11 a.m. in Memorial Church.