Former Leverett House Master Dies

Former Leverett House Master John J. Conway died yesterday at Massachusetts General Hospital following a stroke. He was 79.

Conway, who spent 18 years at Harvard as a house master and in various other administrative and teaching positions from 1945 to 1963, is remembered well for his work in shaping the curriculum of the College.

He served on Harvard's Board of Freshman Advisers and the Educational Policy Committee. In the 1960s, he chaired a committee to improve the Freshman Seminar Program.

Conway did much to enhance life at Leverett House, a former Leverett resident remembers.

"He was a connoisseur of friendship," Stephen S. Rosenfeld '53, deputy editorial page editor for the Washington Post, told the New York Times.

"I...became a journalist because of John Conway," Rosenfeld said. "Through his own example, he introduced me to the notion that an individual's sensibilities could come to terms with the cruel world outside the comfortable cocoon in which many of us had lived," he said.

Conway, a native of Toronto, Canada, specialized in Canadian history and in "the geopolitical forces that shape political cultures," his wife told the Times.

Conway received both a master's degree in history and his Ph.D. from Harvard. His dissertation won the Jay prize, an award given for exceptional scholarly work on British or American institutions.

During World War II, Conway was a company commander and was awarded the Military Cross for hero- ism in Italy.

Conway was the leader of a company of menagainst the German forces on May 23, 1944, when asoldier in his company was shot and dropped a livehand grenade.

Conway picked up the grenade and hurled it awayfrom his men, but his right hand was blown off inthe process.

Undiscouraged, Conway pushed forward, carryinghis pistol in his left hand, until the Germangunners had been killed or captured, according tothe citation he received with his medal.

Conway's wife Jill, who was president of SmithCollege and is presently a visiting professor ofscience, technology and society at MIT, said herhusband was an avid gardener and had a passion formusic, ballet, outdoor hikes, animals and "anybodywho was generally curious."

After leaving Harvard, Conway held teaching andadministrative positions at York University inToronto, was a member of the boards of theCanadian National Ballet and the Toronto Symphony,and at the time of his death, was a trustee of theBoston Opera Company.

He had also worked with AIDS patients at ahospice in the city of Boston.

Conway is survived by his wife and two sisters,Lorraine Goldie and Marie Legg

Conway was the leader of a company of menagainst the German forces on May 23, 1944, when asoldier in his company was shot and dropped a livehand grenade.

Conway picked up the grenade and hurled it awayfrom his men, but his right hand was blown off inthe process.

Undiscouraged, Conway pushed forward, carryinghis pistol in his left hand, until the Germangunners had been killed or captured, according tothe citation he received with his medal.

Conway's wife Jill, who was president of SmithCollege and is presently a visiting professor ofscience, technology and society at MIT, said herhusband was an avid gardener and had a passion formusic, ballet, outdoor hikes, animals and "anybodywho was generally curious."

After leaving Harvard, Conway held teaching andadministrative positions at York University inToronto, was a member of the boards of theCanadian National Ballet and the Toronto Symphony,and at the time of his death, was a trustee of theBoston Opera Company.

He had also worked with AIDS patients at ahospice in the city of Boston.

Conway is survived by his wife and two sisters,Lorraine Goldie and Marie Legg