At 101, another look around
Harvard’s first commencing scholars — all nine of them — got their diplomas in 1642. Since then, University-wide, there have been nearly 450,000 graduates. But how many of them were ever attacked by pirates? At least one: Clarence Mendel Agress ’33, a California cardiologist, researcher, and late-in-life novelist who is now 101. In the early 1950s, off the west coast of Mexico, he and a friend — both amateur yachtsmen — were making a daring, long-distance run to La Paz in a 32-foot Grand Banks powerboat. Bandits waylaid the pair in an area aptly called Pirate’s Cove. “We had to fire a shotgun at them to keep them away,” he said. Agress’ latest adventure was a visit to Harvard in late May. There were no pirates, unless you include the ones in costume in Harvard Square. But the retired doctor had a big crew with him: about 15 members of his family,...