PRESIDENT JON STRAUSS QUIPPED THAT JOSEPH PLATT is now in the same league as Frank Sinatra  and Gene Autry, what with a street named after him (Platt Boulevard). But the similarities don’t end there, of course. The soon-to-be 90-year-old physicist, former college president, professor, husband, father and grandfather is also  quite the singer.

In remarks at Platt’s 90th birthday celebration, held on campus April 30 during Alumni Weekend, guests fondly reminisced about Platt’s memorable guitar playing, his pioneering work as leader of two Claremont institutions, and his warm and friendly persona. Platt’s 90th year coincides with the beginning of celebrations for Harvey Mudd College’s 50th anniversary.

Platt said it was “a real joy” to spend almost a half century in Claremont. He served as the first president of HMC from 1956 to 1976, as the eighth president of Claremont Graduate School and University Center from 1976 to 1981, and has been senior professor of physics at HMC since 1981.

William Zimmerman, trustee since 1982, complimented Platt’s calm and wise counsel at critical times and recalled his smooth guitar renditions around the campfire at Saddle Rock. “A true Renaissance man,” he commented.

Tom Mudd, grandson of Harvey Mudd, sent best wishes from the Mudd family. His and other heartfelt messages from many friends, colleagues and alumni were presented to Platt in a memory book filled to the brim.

“Beloved is an overused term these days, but I would not be surprised to look it up in the dictionary and see a picture of Joe and Jean Platt,” wrote Rick Simon ’76.

Joe Stone ’63, a member of the HMC’s entering class, recalled the rigorous academic load. “With all the challenges, we knew we had a great man at the helm, not only a leader but someone who would sing for us.”

 Those offering congratulations in person included Daryl Smith, dean of the School of Educational Studies, Claremont Graduate University, who presented Platt with a Certificate of Joyful Appreciation for his work as founder and sitting chair of the board of visitors there; David Drew, professor of education and executive management, who holds the Joseph B. Platt Chair in the Management of Technology at CGU; Claremont mayor Sandy Baldonado; HMC First Lady Jean Strauss; and Mack Gilkeson, professor of engineering emeritus.

Penny Barrett ’67 expressed her gratitude to the Platts for their role in the educational success of her and her sister, Patricia (Gach) Hildebrand ’63. Kate Little ’82, who remarked that Platt spent many decades singing to Mudders, reciprocated with a tune created in 1982 by the West Dorm Water Company. Mahesh Koteca ’70, among HMC’s first international students, shared that even 20 years after graduation, the Platts remain concerned and interested in his life and career. “This is a tremendous asset to every student here because he cares about every one of us. Without that caring, many of us would not have the same bond we have today with the college.”

Kotecha said that Platt personifies the central theme of HMC’s founding, the meeting of the two cultures: the scientist/engineer sensitive to the social impact of his/her work.

The Platt’s eldest daughter, Ann Platt Walker, shared memories before Mudd—sailing balsa wood glider airplanes with her father, watching barges on the Erie Canal during their time in Rochester, N.Y., and her memories of the design and construction of a 240-million-volt synchrocyclotron while Platt was professor of physics at the University of Rochester.

“It took me a while to realize my father was different from most fathers I knew,” shared Walker. “In the 1950s, no one else’s father played the guitar, for example. Dad’s guitar playing and singing has been central to my life for 57 years. For many of them, I took his eclectic repertoire for granted. It never occurred to me that few kids were sung to sleep with Art Roberts’ physics songs. These came with soothing choruses ‘like round and round and round go the deuterons,’ ‘It ain’t the money that makes the nucleus go round, it’s the philosophical, ethical principle of the thing!’ However our bedtime and after-dinner songs were equally likely to be ones dad picked up [while in the Merchant Marine] in the ’30s, mid- to late-19th-century Baptist hymns, minstrel and Civil War songs, or other chestnuts from the days when families used to sing together. Actually, I now recognize that physics, dad’s faith, his family, and other sources of his fond repertoire have been the cardinal points of his life.”

Central throughout his life has been his wife, Jean. Jean Strauss commended the Platts for being a true team.

“Joe reveres Jean’s intellect and respects every aspect of her. It’s hard to quantify what that role model has done for the many who were students here. Joe’s respect of Jean transferred over into respect of women on campus.”

As guests discovered, the very fact that women are on campus today is due in large part to Platt. In his remarks, Platt verified that there was a lone board member opposed to admitting women at Mudd. “Trustee Al Thomas said he had an uneasy feeling about who would marry a math major,” said Platt of their conversation. When Platt shared that he had indeed married a mathematician— Jean majored in mathematics—well, that was that.