Interview with Thomas A. Tombrello - Caltech Oral Histories

Tombrello–139
TOMBRELLO: Yes. But I think the trustees liked and trusted Tom Everhart, and they should
have. He’s solid. He’s dependable. I think they liked that. And he worked very hard to build a
very powerful Board of Trustees.
ASPATURIAN: When you say “powerful,” you mean really supportive of and invested in Caltech?
TOMBRELLO: Supportive of. They played on a big stage. They were rich. They were generous.
I would say he coupled the trustees more closely to Caltech than other presidents had, and they
were quite a bunch. I don’t think he would be— I would consider him a gentlemanly C as a
president. Nothing disastrous, except the fact that some of his vice presidents were out of
control. Morrisroe, who had done a fantastic job for Brown, was clearly running his own show.
And that happens when someone who is one layer down in the organization is not integrated with
the overall strategy. There probably wasn’t an overall strategy—except the big strategy of
getting the trustees organized. But Everhart was allowed to finish his term.
ASPATURIAN: I’d like to ask about the provosts under Everhart. He started with Barclay Kamb,
is that right?
TOMBRELLO: I’m glad you brought that back up. Because I don’t think they could
communicate. It wasn’t entirely Everhart’s fault. Barclay communicates differently than other
people. If you’re a fan of Barclay, you take the time, because in that communication is wisdom.
As I mentioned when we talked about my being at Schlumberger, Barclay, Frank Press, John
Deutch, and I were on the original Schlumberger visiting committee. Even the people on the
committee, including Press—who was a fan of Barclay’s, because Press of course had been here
and run the Seismo Lab before he went to MIT—were frustrated with Barclay. I thought Barclay
was wonderful. I still do. He’s one of my heroes. If it’s hard to communicate with Barclay, take
more time. It’s worth it. But I don’t think Everhart could do that, and he got more frustrated
with it—and, as I say, it got kind of out of control, because I believe there were people trying to
push their own agendas. Barclay was kind of in the way. I think a lot of people were
campaigning to be provost.
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