February 24, 2021
One of Harvard’s leading benefactors left an indelible imprint on HKS students.
Gustave M. Hauser—who with his wife Rita established the Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations in 1997, endowed two faculty positions, supported extended visits by prominent public leaders, and funded the recent space renovation for the Center for Public Leadership—passed away February 14, 2021, after a long illness.
Gus Hauser will be remembered across Harvard for his steadfast support and enduring generosity. At Harvard Kennedy School, Gus and Rita Hauser focused especially on the nexus of public policy and civil society. The Hauser Center became a part of the Center for Public Leadership in 2013, when it was renamed the Hauser Institute for Civil Society. A signature project, the Hauser Leaders Program, is now in its seventh year of bringing distinguished leaders from the public, nonprofit, and private sectors to Harvard to learn from and enrich the University community. The Hausers also funded the Hauser Professor of the Practice of Nonprofit Organizations, a position held today by faculty member Cornell William Brooks, and the Rita E. Hauser Senior Lecturer in Leadership and Civil Society, a position held today by faculty member Marshall Ganz. Most recently, Gus and Rita Hauser enabled a renovation of the space occupied by the Center for Public Leadership.