Howard Teaf joined the faculty in 1932 and retired in 1971 after 40 years of outstanding service to the College. His contributions in scholarship, teaching, service to the community at large, and service for the College, add up to form an exemplary career, a landmark in Haverford's recent history.

His scholarship was applied rather than theoretic, reflecting his training in the Economics Department at the University of Pennsylvania. During his years of graduate study, two of its major figures were Simon Kuznets, pioneer in defining and measuring national income, and Solomon Heubner, a leading theorist and analyst of insurance systems. Howard's dissertation under them spelled out and tested the conditions under which companies could efficiently practice self-insurance, a topic quite appropriate to Quakerly concern for private, independent, self-reliant organization of economic activity. It was published as a Department of Labor monograph.

In his professional life he continued as a consultant and adviser to Federal and State governments on insurance matters, while devoting most of his off-campus time to service as a highly respected member of the American Arbitration Association. Teachers and school districts, for example, relied on him for fair judgments in the arbitration of grievance cases. This was a Haverfordian form of applied economics, combining technical expertise with humane wisdom. He also brought sound economic counsel to the Board of the American Friends Service Committee and various committees of Philadelphia Yearly Meeting.

Howard was a very gifted teacher, getting beginning students interested in basic economic issues, leading majors into the literature, and helping all his students to form their own judgments on the basis of rigorous analysis. He was widely read and interested in what his colleagues were doing. When the social science departments organized a general introductory course, he provided key inputs. At lunch his perceptive questions and comments often stimulated inter-disciplinary discussion. Visiting lecturers were invariably challenged by his probing questions and insightful comments.

Howard and his wife, Gertrude, like many other Haverford faculty couples, opened their home to students; education was not confined to the classroom. And warm relationships continued after graduation. Many students sought Howard's advice about career alternatives and job opportunities. He was a career-guidance counselor long before the College developed a formal office in this area, maintaining a large communications network among alumni helping each other.

When Haverford College organized a Relief and Reconstruction unit during World War II, Howard was one of its key faculty members, and immediately after the war he served in Finland as a reconstruction administrator for the American Friends Service Committee. When a Social and Technical Assistance training program was organized, Howard's courses again were a central part of the curriculum. In 1954 the Service Committee sent him as a long time Board member of a fact-finding mission to the Middle East. After retirement, he worked very hard to find workable ways to organize the Quadrangle, a life-care community that will permanently enrich the community around us.

Howard Teaf's service to the College took many forms. With several others he helped forge new relationships between the administration and the faculty, over the long period from William Wistar Comfort through Felix Morley, Gilbert White, Hugh Borton, and John Coleman. Many faculty members remember Howard and Gertie as cheerful, friendly welcomers when we first arrived on campus. His practical initiatives had much to do with the medical and other fringe benefits we now enjoy. On two occasions he came out of retirement to manage the Alumni Office, taking the lead in arranging faculty talks before alumni groups.

Thus in the four areas in which we are examined as faculty members: scholarship, teaching, community service, and college service, the record of Howard M. Teaf, Jr., sets a very high standard. The faculty is united in minuting its deep appreciation for everything he contributed to the College. May we all try to do as well.

You may contact the Howard Teaf Business Society

by sending E-mail to tbs@haverford.edu