Daniel Steiner, at 72; led New England Conservatory

Occasionally when speaking to faculty and students as president of the New England Conservatory, Daniel Steiner would poke fun at a significant difference between those in the audience and the man at the podium: They were musicians. He was not.

``If this doesn't work," he would deadpan about whatever initiative was being discussed, ``I can always sing or play piano . . . and you don't want me to do that."

Though Mr. Steiner was the first non musician to lead the conservatory, he had what musicians call good ears. He knew how to listen, colleagues said, and he used what he heard to help strengthen the school. During his tenure, the conservatory hired key faculty members, increased student applications, created a joint degree program with Harvard University, and launched a $100 million capital campaign that has raised about $72 million to date.

Mr. Steiner died of complications from chronic lung disease Sunday at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. He was 72 and had lived in Cambridge.

Citing ill health, he said last fall that he would retire at the end of this school year after seven years in office. The conservatory awarded him an honorary doctorate at its May 21 commencement.

The presidency was a coda of sorts to a lengthy legal career that had included 22 years as Harvard's first general counsel -- from 1970, during the days of student unrest in the Vietnam War era, to 1992. Those experiences were rich, family and colleagues say, but Mr. Steiner found a particular joy in his work at the music school.

``That was far and away the best job he ever had in his life," said his daughter, Elizabeth Steiner Hayward of Portland, Ore. ``The conservatory, that was a passion for him. That was a labor of true love."

Mr. Steiner was acting president for a year and then was offered the presidency in part because faculty members were so impressed by his leadership and genial manner.

``He was modest," said Harold I. Pratt , vice chairman of the school's board of trustees and chairman of the current presidential search committee. ``He didn't seek to dominate a conversation. He listened well."

Mr. Steiner was not modest about his goals for the conservatory, however. He used as a measuring stick the place where he had spent most of his professional career.

``My objective is to get NEC the same status in its field as Harvard," Mr. Steiner told the Globe in October 2003 . ``That's very doable, but we have to get the word out."

Part of getting the word out meant attracting more faculty members renowned in their areas, which led to increased interest by young musicians. Student applications increased 70 percent during his years as president.

``Daniel was a quality human being," said Paul Katz , the former Cleveland Quartet cellist who said he joined the conservatory's faculty because of Mr. Steiner. ``I was just so taken by him -- his sense of commitment and his sense of integrity."

Mr. Steiner was born in Mount Vernon, N.Y., and grew up in New York City. He graduated from Harvard College in 1954, spent a year studying at the University of London, and graduated from Harvard Law School in 1958.

He spent several years with law firms in New York City, then joined the Johnson administration in the State Department, first as assistant general counsel for legislation, and then as chief of legislative programs for the Agency for International Development.

Beginning in 1967 he was general counsel for the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and he went to Harvard two years later as secretary of the University Committee on Governance. Nathan M. Pusey , then president of Harvard, appointed Mr. Steiner as the university's first general counsel in 1970.

``To me and to countless others at Harvard, he has been an unfailing source of wise and thoughtful advice on every kind of problem facing our university," Derek Bok , who was president of Harvard for all but two of the years Mr. Steiner was general counsel, said in a statement. ``I cannot imagine how I could have done my job for 20 years without his help and dedicated services."

Despite the demands of the job -- Mr. Steiner was given the additional title of vice president in 1982 -- his family remained a priority.

``We had dinner as a family every night at 7," said his son, Joshua , of New York City. ``Most nights at 6:30 we would watch Walter Cronkite together."

Respect the opinions of others and keep a strong moral compass, he told his children during years when student protests were the norm and the university seemed to face an endless series of vexing ethical choices

``My father had an absolutely irrevocable sense of true north," Joshua said, ``and no amount of institutional pressure or individual pressure would alter that belief."

``My father was a mensch," his daughter said. ``He was an honorable, decent man."

While working for Harvard, Mr. Steiner's wife, Prudence , earned her doctorate and began teaching English at the university. The couple's 46th wedding anniversary was yesterday. They had met when he was in law school and she was an undergraduate at Radcliffe.

At New England Conservatory, ``he had this kind of innate gift of being able to get other people to produce almost more than they thought possible," said David Scudder , life trustee and head of the capital campaign.

Mr. Steiner was too ill to attend commencement last month. In his place, Prudence Steiner read her husband's address to the students.

``When historians write the account of these years at NEC, they will see that these mark the beginning of a golden age," he wrote.

Mr. Steiner, who liked to grow a beard during the summer when he spent time on Martha's Vineyard, loved to listen to classical music, but made no secret of his own shortcomings as a player. His piano studies stopped after the rudimentary early lessons.

Asked last fall whether he was tempted to seek out private lessons with a faculty member, he laughed and said, ``They'd have to be very private."

In addition to his wife, son, and daughter, Mr. Steiner leaves a brother, Henry, of Cambridge; a sister, Marilyn Pomerance of New York City; and six grandchildren.

A memorial service will be held at 11:30 a.m. today at Levine Chapel in Brookline. Burial will be private.