Harold F. Schuknecht, Walter Augustus Lecompte Professor of Otology and Laryngology Emeritus, died Oct. 19 in Massachusetts General Hospital. He was 79.

A leading educator and ear surgeon, Schuknecht was a professor at the Medical School and former chief of otolaryngology at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary.

Born in Chancellor, S.D., Schuknecht graduated from the University of South Dakota and the University of Chicago Medical School.

Schuknecht was the author of more than 300 articles, as well as the classic text, Pathology of the Ear.

Schuknecht leaves his wife, Anne (Bodle); a daughter, Judy Burness of Santa Rosa, Calif.; a son, Jim, of Seattle; two brothers, Lowell of Atlanta and Arnold of Salem, Ore.; and two grandsons.