CAMPUS

Meet Rick HardyConcord Academy’s New Head of Schoolby Gail FriedmanTom KatesIT WAS LATE JUNE and Rick Hardy was standingin his new Aloian House office, boxes half unpacked,family photos and artwork still on the floor.The space may have looked disheveled, but it wasnot disorganized. Concord Academy’s new head ofschool was packed and ready to go days before themoving van arrived, according to Hardy’s brother-inlawand childhood friend, Marty Gagne. Gagnementions a sense of order high among Hardy’s charactertraits: “He is kind, generous, and extremely wellorganized.”Hardy, who started as CA’s head of school July 1,is a planner. “When he has something to take care of,he gets it taken care of ahead of time,” said Gagne.The new head made his well-planned move toConcord with his wife Adele—known to friends asDel—who works as a senior clinician in the Speech andSwallowing Disorders Clinic at Brigham and Women’sHospital. Their son Owen is a senior at Milton Academy,where Hardy was interim head of school untilrecently, and their daughter Aidan is a senior atMacalester College.Rick will want you to call him Rick. Even hisformal stationery doesn’t say Richard. “The real me ispretty down to earth,” he said.For a self-described “working class kid,” thatcomes as no surprise. Hardy was weeding cornfields inrural Pelham, New Hampshire when he was nine.He graduated to handling hay and, by the time he wassixteen, was an experienced laborer and handyman.“When we were growing up, working was just what weall did,” he said, referring to his two sisters and threebrothers. He is number three in the lineup.Part of the reason they all worked was to helptheir mother, who raised the family on her earnings asa police department dispatcher after Hardy’s fatherdied. Hardy was nine then. He brought home earningsfrom the farm, as well as skills useful around the modesthouse. But he also brought home a newfound17W W W . C O N C O R D A C A D E M Y. O R G F A L L 2 0 0 9