#  Christina Davis's Letter on the Passing of Henry Rosovsky 

 



 November 17, 2022

 We mourn the loss of Henry Rosovsky, Lewis P. and Linda L. Geyser University Professor Emeritus, who passed away November 11th at the age of 95. His service to the university began as professor in the Economics Department in 1965, and continued to include serving as Chair of the Economics Department, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Acting President of Harvard (in 1984 and 1987), and member of the Harvard Corporation.

 He was a pioneering scholar of Japan’s long-run economic growth. His interest in Japan arose after having been posted in Hokkaido by the U.S. military to monitor Russian broadcasting. This interest led to a dissertation and book, *Capital Formation in Japan* (1961), that examined the remarkable trajectory of Japan’s modernization from the Meiji period and highlighted the role of public investment to support latecomer industrialization. Among his many other books on Japan’s economic history are *Quantitative Japanese Economic History* (1961), *Industrialization in Two Systems* (1961), *Discord in the Pacific* (1972), *Japanese Economic Growth* (with Kazushi Ohkawa, 1973), *Asia's New Giant: How the Japanese Economy Works* (with Hugh Patrick, 1976), *Favorites of Fortune* (with Patricia Higonnet and David Landes, 1991) and *The Political Economy of Japan: Cultural and Social Dynamics* (with Shumpei Kumon 1992). Reflecting on his experience in university administration at Harvard, which included the creation of the Harvard Core Curriculum as a broad commitment to liberal arts education at Harvard, he wrote the widely cited book *The University: An Owner's Manual* (1990).

 Henry Rosovsky was a longtime Faculty Associate of the Program on U.S.-Japan Relations. As a teacher and mentor he shaped the lives of many Harvard students, including myself. Taking his freshman seminar on Japanese Economic Development in 1989 sparked my lifelong interest in Japan and I continued to benefit from his counsel and friendship over the years.

 We offer our deepest condolences to Professor Rosovsky’s family and friends.

 In sympathy,

 Christina Davis

 Edwin O. Reischauer Professor of Japanese Politics  
Director, Program on U.S.-Japan Relations  
Harvard University