Harvard Hangs with POTUS on Martha's Vineyard

Some of Harvard’s top donors have been swinging sticks and rubbing elbows with the president this summer—and we’re not talking about Drew G. Faust.

Glenn H. Hutchins ’77 teed it up with President Barack Obama twice this summer at the Vineyard Golf Club in Martha’s Vineyard, according to White House pool reports. Hutchins is a member of Harvard Management Company’s board and a longtime Harvard donor.

For their first round together in mid-August, Obama and Hutchins golfed with World Bank president Jim Yong Kim and Cyrus Walker, a usual golf opponent. A week later, the two Harvard Law School grads added Alonzo Mourning and Ray Allen, both former NBA basketball stars, to their foursome.

Vineyard Golf boasts the only completely organic course in the country, maintained with bio-stimulants and composted fertilizers in lieu of pesticides. Memberships at the club sell for hundreds of thousands of dollars (the president plays as a guest).

Martha’s Vineyard—located just two and a half hours from Harvard by car and ferry—is a favorite hangout for the president and Harvard golfers and socialites. Obama, who has summered at the Vineyard six times during his presidency, just wrapped up a two-week vacation on the island.

Also on the Vineyard, Harvard affiliates mixed with President Obama at the 80th birthday party for Vernon Jordan, a civil rights leader and close adviser to President Bill Clinton, according to pool reports. Kenneth I. Chenault, the CEO of American Express and a member of the Harvard Corporation, and Henry Louis “‘Skip” Gates Jr., a prominent Harvard professor, enjoyed surf and turf and birthday cake at the Farm Neck Golf Club celebration.