About Us: John B. Hurford '60 Biography
Born in Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, John attended Marple Newtown High School before attending Haverford College. John excelled in athletics at Haverford, lettering in Football, Basketball, and Track. After earning his B.A. in Economics in 1960 John went on to the University of California Business School and Harvard Business School, where he earned an MBA in 1965. He also received two Fulbright Fellowships. From 1965 to 1967 he studied economic trends in New Delhi, India.
In 1967 John began his career in business by joining Lazard Freres and Company where he specialized in investment management, mergers and acquisitions evaluations. In 1969 he moved to BEA Associates Inc., as a Vice President and director. John later served as the Managing Director of Credit Suisse Management and Warburg Pincus in New York.
John remained devoted to his alma mater throughout his life, lending his insight, leadership, and financial resources to bolstering Haverford's academic community and physical plant. John was elected to the Board of Managers in 1984 and served as chair of the board from 1995-2000. While on the board, John played a key role in the search for a new college president, and many other matters. During his time on the board, he served on many committees: the Finance & Investment Committee, the Sub-Committee on Investment, the Committee on Long Range Planning, the Student Affairs Committee and the Endowment Spending Policy Committee. John spearheaded two fundraising campaigns whose contributions helped finance the construction of the Marshall Fine Arts Building and the Whitehead Campus Center. John personally endowed a professorship and scholarship funds at the college and established the Howard Teaf Memorial Fund for student and faculty research in Economics.
John's philanthropy and community service was not limited to Haverford. John was chairman of the board of directors of The Jamestown Foundation and president of the World Affairs Council of Long Island. He served on the board of the institute for East West Studies, the National endowment for Democracy, the Foreign Policy Association, the National Humanities Center, the American Council on Germany, the Southampton Hospital and the Convent of the Sacred Heart. He was a life member of the council on Foreign Relations and an emeritus board member of the Fulbright Association, which awarded him the Fulbright Award for Outstanding Achievement in 1997. He was also the founder and president of the Hurford Foundation, which supports institutions and individuals addressing major policy issues.
John was committed to global affairs and never lost his commitment to the Quaker values that the learned at Haverford as a student. A trusted advisor to Haverford President Tom Tritton, he was particularly effective in developing consensus within the Board as major issues of institutional policy were addressed. In 2003 Haverford named its new Humanities Center in honor of John Hurford's long years of service and generosity to the College.