Ed Poliakoff ’67, P’00 has been coming back to Harvard ever since 1963. In the early days, he remembers attending a lecture with Henry Kissinger ’50, PhD ’54, sitting in the stadium when John F. Kennedy ’40 attended a football game, and rowing in the first Head of the Charles. But his favorite memories don’t stop there, and his deep connections to Harvard continue to inspire him.
Grateful for the ways the College enriches his life, Poliakoff and his wife of 53 years, Sandra, have added a planned gift to their annual philanthropy. They worked with Harvard’s Office of Gift Planning to establish a gift annuity to benefit Harvard.
“It was a win-win way,” says Poliakoff. “We can make a significant gift while retaining for our lifetimes a predictable fixed income.”
He hopes the planned gift will help support faculty excellence and amazing student experiences, pillars of his Harvard days and those of his son Eli ’00. He also likes the idea that he is bolstering Harvard during times of uncertainty.
“Borrowing from the words of ‘Fair Harvard,’ I'm going to do my small part to maintain strength and calm ‘thro' change and thro' storm,’” says Poliakoff.
Harvard has been a constant in his life, even as he returned to Columbia, South Carolina, to work in law and raise his family. He cofounded the Harvard Club of South Carolina, served as a regional director for the Harvard Alumni Association, and volunteered as a Reunion Committee member for the Class of 1967. He also chaired the Schools and Scholarships Committee for 40 years, interviewing hundreds of students interested in Harvard. For that dedication, he was honored with a Hiram S. Hunn Memorial Schools and Scholarships Award from the Harvard College Office of Admissions and Financial Aid.
Ties with other alumni energize Poliakoff. “I return almost every year to Harvard, sometimes more. I love seeing old friends there and making new ones,” he says.
These include his teammates from crew. He had never stepped in a racing shell before arriving in Cambridge but soon found himself as part of the varsity team and then the Kirkland House crew. He was able to revisit those connections by rowing as a senior oarsman at a celebration for the renewed Newell Boathouse in May 2025. “My technique was rusty, but it was a wonderful experience to be a part of,” says Poliakoff.
In his retirement, he's reached out to Harvard scholars and researchers. An avid collector of antique South Carolina maps, he requested assistance from the Harvard Map Collection at Harvard Library. “I got an immediate response,” he said. “One of the professionals there produced the exact resource that I needed.”
He was surprised to learn that one of his own collections was of interest to Harvard. Weeks after seeing Kennedy in the stadium, Poliakoff remembers the shock of learning the president had been assassinated. He responded by buying every newspaper he could find at the old Out of Town News stand In Harvard Square. Recently, he looked at his old cache and wondered if he should throw it away.
“I would never have guessed that Harvard Archives would have any interest in anything of mine, but when I got in touch with them, they said they would be glad to have the papers. I was delighted.”
These touchpoints are invaluable. He says, “Harvard is an important part of my life, and I’ll always seek to do my part to support it."
If you are interested in planning a gift for Harvard College, please email ogp@harvard.edu. For more information on gift planning, please visit Harvard Gift Planning.