David Washburn Bailey, Secretary to the Corporation, and of the Board of Overseers, from 1945 to 1965, died Dec. 31 in his Cambridge home. He was 98.

Upon graduating from Harvard, Bailey worked as a reporter for the Boston Transcript, serving both as a sports correspondent and drama critic. In 1928 he returned to Harvard as publication agent, in which capacity he edited the University's various official publications, including the alumni directory and the various Class Reports. During the war Bailey became Harvard's supervisor of war records, serving for two years until his appointment as Secretary to the Corporation. For the next 20 years he worked closely with Presidents Conant and Pusey, quietly making sure that the University's business got done, with precision and respect for precedent.

President Pusey last week said of Bailey: "His deep knowledge and love of Harvard put him in a class by himself, and he was one of the University's most competent and devoted servants."

Bailey for many years also served as chairman of the Nieman Foundation for Journalism and as a member of the Executive Committee of the WGBH Educational Foundation. An avid gardener, he wrote a monthly column for many years on vegetable gardening for House Beautiful. Upon his retirement in 1965, Bailey became Honorary Keeper of the Corporation Records, and the following year he received an honorary doctorate for his longtime service to the University.

He leaves his wife, Joyce; and a son, Charles, and a daughter, Joanna Hodgman, by his first wife, Catherine, who died in 1960.