James Eldin Reed

Class of 1967: Promoted international understanding

James Eldin Reed held a wide-ranging career as a scholar, writer, consultant, historian and educator.

He was born March 13, 1945, in Walla Walla, Washington. He studied history at Ripon, participated in Sigma Nu and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He received a Ph.D. in American and international history from Harvard where he was a Woodrow Wilson Fellow; and earned a degree in religious studies at Harvard Divinity School.

Early in his career, he served on the staff of a Congressional Committee in Washington. He then began consulting to senior managers of professional firms and nonprofit organizations. He was involved with asbestos-related legislation at the federal level and published extensively on the issue in leading national media. He helped advise and assist the House Judiciary Committee and its staff on the subject.

He was principal and founder of Addis & Reed Consulting Inc. in 1979 and had expertise in organizational strategy, particularly for professional firms and nonprofit organizations. He also had experience with government at all levels, from municipal to state to federal to international.

He held appointments at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, the Center for International Governance Innovation, the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, and for many years as a Visiting Fellow at the Harvard Divinity School. He also served as president of the Boston Chapter of the Association of Management Consultants and sat on a number of boards.

The Fulbright Program was an active interest. Reed held appointments in Canada, Albania and repeatedly in the Islamic Republic of Pakistan. He was a Fulbright Distinguished Fellow, served on the Board of the Fulbright Association and was president of the Massachusetts Fulbright Association in Boston.

He was a widely published authority on America’s role in world affairs, as well as on Northwest cultural and intellectual history.

He died April 5, 2012, at age 67.