He resisted the Vietnam War and discrimination against minorities in college. He challenged roomfuls of Harvard MBA candidates to think, talk, and write outside a business mindset. He devoted himself to the care of a partner dying of AIDS and faced his own gradual demise caused by heavy smoking with humor and elegance.
The former Harvard professor, writer, poet, theater producer, and communications specialist died of complications of emphysema May 30 at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. He was 63.
The eldest of three children of Elwood V. and E. Valerie (Elkins) Hattersley, Dr. Hattersley traveled the world with his military family. He attended 12 schools in 12 years before graduating from a Minneapolis high school and attending Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. At Swarthmore, he captained two winning College Bowl quiz teams on national television.
“Michael had an odd dichotomy with the military discipline from my father, moderated by my mother, who questioned the status quo and taught him to use his intellect and develop critical thinking,’’ said his sister Victoria of Brookline.
He graduated from Swarthmore in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in English.
A conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, Dr. Hattersley served two years as a psychiatric aide at the Institute of Living in Hartford. He took a yearlong trip around the world before earning a doctorate in English at Yale in 1976.
He taught literature and writing at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania from 1976 until 1982. While there, he founded the Valley Arts Council, reflecting an interest in music and theater that began as a child.
“We were actors in his plays and part of his singing troupe,’’ his sister recalled. “He loved ’50s and ’60s pop music, and when my father sent a copy of ‘Meet The Beatles’ home from Korea, he was riveted by music from that time on.’’
Dr. Hattersley spent two years in New York, from 1982 until 1984, working in business communications, and then met his partner David Harkins and moved to Boston. A year driving a cab in Boston preceded his joining the Harvard faculty in 1985 as cochairman of management communication, the writing and speaking courses required to earn a master’s degree in business administration.
Robert Kent of Cambridge, the other chairman and a close friend, described him as “a joyous loner, one of a kind.’’
Harvard MBA students were there for finance and marketing, but Kent and Dr. Hattersley served up writing and public speaking instruction using a “Socratic effort at deriving, not imposing, the lesson of the day,’’ he said.
“It was a brilliant, tough crowd, and we used case-method teaching, not lecture,’’ Kent said. “Michael was great at it, as he knew how to engage a class and get them talking and get them on point. He always had his eye on the big picture and knew how to build a discussion.”
Jeffrey Hart
http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2011/06/29/michael_e_hattersley_63_harvard_professor_writer/
Jeffrey Hart
Jeffrey Hart
Yearbook Photo
Jeffrey Hart
Michael E. Hattersley, 63; Harvard professor, writer
MICHAEL E. HATTERSLEY
By Gil Bliss
Globe Correspondent / June 29, 2011
Michael E. Hattersley lived life fearlessly.
He resisted the Vietnam War and discrimination against minorities in college. He challenged roomfuls of Harvard MBA candidates to think, talk, and write outside a business mindset. He devoted himself to the care of a partner dying of AIDS and faced his own gradual demise caused by heavy smoking with humor and elegance.
The former Harvard professor, writer, poet, theater producer, and communications specialist died of complications of emphysema May 30 at Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis. He was 63.
The eldest of three children of Elwood V. and E. Valerie (Elkins) Hattersley, Dr. Hattersley traveled the world with his military family. He attended 12 schools in 12 years before graduating from a Minneapolis high school and attending Swarthmore College in Pennsylvania. At Swarthmore, he captained two winning College Bowl quiz teams on national television.
“Michael had an odd dichotomy with the military discipline from my father, moderated by my mother, who questioned the status quo and taught him to use his intellect and develop critical thinking,’’ said his sister Victoria of Brookline.
He graduated from Swarthmore in 1969 with a bachelor’s degree in English.
A conscientious objector during the Vietnam War, Dr. Hattersley served two years as a psychiatric aide at the Institute of Living in Hartford. He took a yearlong trip around the world before earning a doctorate in English at Yale in 1976.
He taught literature and writing at Muhlenberg College in Pennsylvania from 1976 until 1982. While there, he founded the Valley Arts Council, reflecting an interest in music and theater that began as a child.
“We were actors in his plays and part of his singing troupe,’’ his sister recalled. “He loved ’50s and ’60s pop music, and when my father sent a copy of ‘Meet The Beatles’ home from Korea, he was riveted by music from that time on.’’
Dr. Hattersley spent two years in New York, from 1982 until 1984, working in business communications, and then met his partner David Harkins and moved to Boston. A year driving a cab in Boston preceded his joining the Harvard faculty in 1985 as cochairman of management communication, the writing and speaking courses required to earn a master’s degree in business administration.
Robert Kent of Cambridge, the other chairman and a close friend, described him as “a joyous loner, one of a kind.’’
Harvard MBA students were there for finance and marketing, but Kent and Dr. Hattersley served up writing and public speaking instruction using a “Socratic effort at deriving, not imposing, the lesson of the day,’’ he said.
“It was a brilliant, tough crowd, and we used case-method teaching, not lecture,’’ Kent said. “Michael was great at it, as he knew how to engage a class and get them talking and get them on point. He always had his eye on the big picture and knew how to build a discussion.”
Source: http://archive.boston.com/bostonglobe/obituaries/articles/2011/06/29/michael_e_hattersley_63_harvard_professor_writer/