About James Medoff

James Medoff, Meyer Kestnbaum Professor of Labor and Industry, was a farsighted labor economist who spent his entire career at Harvard. His scholarly contributions expanded the vision of his field. He was also a dynamic classroom lecturer and a much loved mentor. Struck in his late thirties with a progressively debilitating disease, he gradually curtailed his activities but heroically resisted giving them up altogether. He finally stopped teaching after thirty-three years at the front of Harvard classrooms. He died four years later. His colleagues miss him, as do generations of Harvard students.

Jim grew up in Woonsocket, the scion of a distinguished Rhode Island mill-owning family. In lecturing on labor issues, he enjoyed recounting how in his teen years he had worked on a factory floor – then adding, as if in afterthought, that his grandfather owned the factory. Along with his hulking frame, his direct, forceful manner of speech gave him an aura of authenticity when he addressed issues concerning shopfloor workers.