Former Harvard President and U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers announced Wednesday that he will retire from his academic and faculty positions at Harvard University at the conclusion of the current academic year. The decision follows the public release of documents detailing his past communications with the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
A university spokesperson confirmed that Jeremy Weinstein, Dean of the Harvard Kennedy School, has accepted Summers’ resignation from his leadership role as co-director of the Mossavar-Rahmani Center for Business and Government. The spokesperson noted that the resignation is connected to an ongoing university review of government-released documents regarding Epstein.
“I have made the difficult decision to retire from my Harvard professorship at the end of this academic year,” Summers stated through a spokesperson. He added that he remains grateful for his five-decade-long history with the institution and looks forward to continuing his work on global economic issues as President Emeritus and a retired professor.
Summers, who served as Treasury Secretary under President Bill Clinton and as a key economic adviser to President Barack Obama, had already stepped away from teaching in November as scrutiny intensified. The House committee’s recent release of emails provided further details on his interactions with Epstein, which reportedly continued after Epstein’s initial conviction.
In a related development, Borge Brende, the President and CEO of the World Economic Forum (WEF), resigned on Thursday following an investigation into his own ties to Epstein.
Brende, who has led the WEF since 2017 after serving as Norway’s Foreign Minister, stated that he believed it was the right moment for the Forum to continue its work “without distractions.” While his official statement did not mention Epstein, his departure follows a WEF inquiry into reports that he had met with Epstein for dinner on multiple occasions and exchanged text messages and emails.
“I was completely unaware of Epstein’s past and criminal activities,” Brende said in a statement prior to his resignation, asserting that he would have declined any invitations had he been aware of Epstein’s criminal background.
