I assume he didn't take your call?
 

Rich, of course he has a responsibility, but he won't honor it. Anyone who couldn't speak the truth in a press release ("to be closer with our family"; his family is in Cambridge), is unlikely to say anything more.
The fact is, he is not going to a new place; he is going back to his old shop. How does one do that after fifteen months and maintain any sense of honesty, with others or with himself. The fact is he screwed Harvard and certainly didn't keep his promises to those who hired him (was there a contract?).
 

Nope, 3:23, haven't called him. It's actually a question of principle rather than self-interest.
 

Well said 4:18, and no big surprise given who hired him at Harvard.
 

Ahhh... the conspiracy theorists are out in force again tonight. It's nice to see them get their dander up after their third gin and tonic or glass of Malbec of the evening, which would likely cloud their judgment if it wasn't otherwise clouded to begin with.

Larry Summers is gone, and it's time to let your bruised, fragile egos heal people; get over yourselves and step back from the drama.

Oh, and of course it's a matter of self-interest Richard, because when it comes to playing the role of gadfly, it helps to have a well-cultivated sense of skepticism rather than adhering to any measure of objectivity.

You don't want El-Erian's explanation to be true because it doesn't help you if it's true.

No amount of money or Harvard prestige can ensure happiness, especially when you're far from "home" in every respect of the word, and that's something El-Erian seems to have a much better handle on than three quarters of the people who post here.

It's about family, and unfortunately for El-Erian, those closest to him never seemed welcome by the "Harvard" family, after reading a few of these posts, it's not hard to appreciate why.
 

10:20, it's not that I don't believe the family thing. It's just that Harvard clearly expected El-Erian to stay for more than a year and a half when it offered him the job, and his departure does put them in a bad way. Of course, things change, and family is more important, of course, in the end. Nonetheless, I think that El-Erian would serve himself and the community well if he sat down with a Crimson reporter and said, look, I'm sorry to leave you in the lurch, but here's what happened.
 

Ahh...except those earlier posts were made in the afternoon, 10:20.

You're right though, it was great before the Summers fiasco, back when there was no such thing as rumor, and no one enjoyed to speculate on the motivations and fates of others.
 

"It's about family" says 10:20, chiding those who suggest otherwise. Maybe it is, maybe it's about money too, so drop the lecturing unless you have something other than your own guesswork and credulity.
 

10:20, you sound like a Hallmark card:

"No amount of money or Harvard prestige can ensure happiness, especially when you're far from "home" in every respect of the word, and that's something El-Erian seems to have a much better handle on than three quarters of the people who post here."

If he's that smart why didn't he know where "home" was when he was offered the job, and decide not to take it. Give us a break.
Ponder anew what his old and new boss at Pimco said in the Wall Street Journal:

'Mr. Gross said that Mr. El-Erian's experience at Harvard, where he was president and CEO of Harvard Management, "filled in his resume" in a way that made the new position at Pimco possible.'
 

So he left because he "never seemed welcome by the "Harvard" family". The Harvard family paid him $5million a year or so, the combined salary of 20-30 tenured faculty members. That's a lonely place to be I guess, so he should feel more at home back at Pimco, with a more appropriately remunerated "family".