Jean Strauss
Wife HMC president emeritus Jon Strauss
The moment I heard that Joe had passed away, my first thought was of Jean. I cannot think of him without her – they were that kind of couple, a partnership, lifelong mates, they belonged together.
Shortly before Jon and I left HMC in 2006, we talked Joe and Jean into putting their footprints and handprints in cement. They both gamely took off their shoes, smushed their hands and feet in, and then signed their names. I hope someday that block of cement is put out on campus, so that those who loved Joe can put their hands where he put his, and that future generations can be reminded of this remarkable couple who helped set in motion the Mobius strip that is HMC.
I also cannot think of Joe without thinking of the HMC family. The college and the campus that he helped build obviously meant a great deal to him, but he was most proud of the good works being done by Mudd graduates and faculty, not just in science and engineering, but in helping humankind. To him, that was his legacy.
As were Ann and Beth, his two extraordinary daughters with Jean (who had to share both of their parents with an entire campus full of people) and his four grandchildren.
It would be hard to pick a single word to define Joe, because he was fun and witty and musical and curious and so smart, so caring. But if I had to pick one word it would be integrity. The foundation of Harvey Mudd College was built with it.
I can hear Joe in my mind right now, playing his guitar and singing “It Ain’t the Money”, to the delight of a Saddlerock audience. I don’t know if I have the lyrics exactly right, but from what I remember, they sum up Joe Platt pretty well.
It ain’t the money
It’s the principle of the thing
It ain’t the money
There’s things that money just can’t buy
It ain’t the money
That makes the nucleus go round
It’s the philosophical ethical moral principle, of the thing.
Aki Nakamura '66
Retired engineer, Osaka, Japan
I was enrolled into HMC campus at the beginning of the summer,’65. I was one of a few foreign students there, and we were invited to Joe’s house for a quiet evening then. It was a great experience for a guy with little experience or exposure to the American way of life in those days. I have to thank again for Mr. and Mrs. Platt’s kind attention to even a smallest member of the campus. I still clearly remember the night even after half a century.
Jeffrey Chu '77
President and CEO, Glowlink, Los Altos, California
HMC under Joe’s leadership literally changed my life. I was an impoverished student finding my way in Hong Kong when HMC plugged me out of nowhere and gave me a great education, and now I am running a technology innovation company here in the fabled Silicon Valley. As exciting and rewarding a ride it has been, it all fades to the background whenever I think about the wonderful freshman orientation dinner at Joe and Jean’s house and Joe’s playing the guitar in East Dorm (where I resided 3 of 4 years). Here’s the President and founder of HMC, dressed up as Santa Claus and singing and playing with a guitar?! Never heard of! Totally amazing! Simply magical!
Brian Boyle '67
Retired but busy, just across the border from Berkeley
It was late in the Summer of 1963, at Freshman orientation for the Class of ’67, that I first met Joe and Jean and The Guitar. HMC was still in its infancy and they were its parents — and ours in many ways.
We all had many better-known options for our undergrad educations, and a lot of us were quietly, secretly worried as to whether we had really made the right choice. The campus center and science building were incomplete, there were no Life Science courses, and every visible structure was covered in weird warts.
Then this quietly smiling, silver-haired guy –who just happened to have helped design one of the (then) world’s largest “atom-smashers” (the quarter-GeV synchrocylclotron)– picked up his guitar and dazzled us with the ever-so-clever tongue-twisting “Bluebeard,” and smoothly segued into “It Ain’t the Money” (…that makes the nucleus go round) and we all knew we’d picked the right place.
We all know Joe and Jean had a hand, a big part, in crafting HMS’s original Mission Statement and creating it complex logo, both stressing the need for bridging The Two Cultures in society, uniting the Sciences and Humanities in its alumni, of making the people of this planet responsible to the Earth and the universe. But for me, the most significant symbol of that ideal union was the one couple that lived with us on campus at the corner of Mills and Twelfth Street.
We’ll miss you mightily, Joe — all six thousand of your adopted children.
Bruce Worster '64
Alum & former trustee, Los Altos Hills, CA
Every conversation I ever had with Joe was a mix of stimulating, interesting, and educational. As an alum from the early years, I am saddened by our loss and grateful for his life and for the school he built.