Walter Leonard, former Fisk University president, dies at 86 

Walter Leonard, a former Fisk University president who previously designed an admissions process at Harvard that led to more minority students being admitted, has died. He was 86.

Mr. Leonard died December 8, 2015 in Kensington, Maryland of complications from Alzheimer's disease, said his wife, Betty Leonard. The couple lived in Chevy Chase, Maryland.

Mr. Leonard served as president of Fisk from 1976 to 1983. While there he raised $12 million to help rescue the school from financial difficulties.

Before then, in 1971, Mr. Leonard was named as a special assistant to Harvard President Derek Bok. Mr. Leonard had already worked as an assistant dean and assistant director of admissions at Harvard Law School, where he was credited with increasing the number of black, Latino and female students.

The admissions formula he created for the entire university included race or ethnicity as one of many factors that could weigh in a prospective student's favor. The affirmative action policy was emulated by other universities and has survived four decades of constitutional scrutiny. However, similar policies at the University of Texas are under review by the Supreme Court.

At the time Mr. Leonard crafted the policy at Harvard, the university was in danger of not meeting federal standards for admission of minorities. Bok told Harvard Law Today that Mr. Leonard helped the university become more diverse in its student body and its faculty.

"The Harvard model provides a standard," Ronald Dworkin of the New York University School of Law wrote in an essay for the 2002 book "The Affirmative Action Debate." ''If the admissions officers of other universities are satisfied that their plan is like the Harvard plan in all pertinent respects, they can proceed in confidence.

"Mr. Leonard was born in Alma, Ga., in 1929. At age 15, he enlisted in the Coast Guard during World War II.

He attended several historically black universities and earned a law degree from Howard University in his mid-30s. He worked as a waiter in Washington to earn money for tuition. In 2011, Mr. Leonard and Bok were awarded Harvard Law School's highest honor, the Medal of Freedom.