Mary Ingraham Bunting-Smith, the fifth president of Radcliffe College and founder of Radcliffe's world-renowned Bunting Institute, died Jan. 21 at her home in Hanover, N.H. She was 87 years old.

Trained as a microbiologist, Bunting-Smith conducted research and taught at Bennington College, Goucher College, Yale University, and Wellesley College early in her career. She was named dean of Douglass College, the state college for women at Rutgers University in New Jersey, in 1955.

From 1960 to 1972, Bunting-Smith, who characterized herself as "a geneticist with nest-building experience," served as the fifth president of Radcliffe College.

"The death of Dr. Mary Ingraham Bunting-Smith is a tremendous loss not only to this community, but also to this country. It is very difficult to express all that she accomplished during her lifetime," said Radcliffe College President Linda S. Wilson.

"Distinguished as a scientist, educator, and administrator, she was a leader on the national landscape and in the educational institutions that she served. Her statesmanship, courage, and imperturbability guided Harvard and Radcliffe's alliance during the turbulent period of national unrest."

Wilson continued, "Long before the women's movement, President Bunting-Smith recognized the contributions that women could make throughout society, and established the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study to overcome the climate of unexpectation for women. The Bunting Institute, named in her honor, is a symbol of her belief in women and all that they could accomplish. Her vision, her life, and her legacy will provide continuing inspiration. It was a privilege to know her. She will be sorely missed."

When Bunting-Smith assumed the Radcliffe College presidency in 1960, her objective was to integrate women fully into Harvard University. During her tenure, Radcliffe students first received Harvard degrees, women were admitted to the graduate and business schools, and the Radcliffe Graduate School merged with Harvard's Graduate School of Arts and Sciences.

During her presidency, Smith also established the Radcliffe Institute for Independent Study. Renamed the Bunting Institute in her honor in 1978, the Institute is the nation's largest multidisciplinary center of advanced studies for women. Among the Bunting's distinguished alumnae are poet Anne Sexton; writers Gish Jen, Sue Miller, and Alice Walker; psychologist Carol Gilligan; scientist Sylvia Earle; social activist Kathleen Cleaver; anthropologist Mary Catherine Bateson; and performance artist Anna Deavere Smith.

In 1964, Bunting-Smith took a one-year leave of absence from Radcliffe to serve an unexpired term as a commissioner of the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission, becoming the first woman to serve on the commission. After leaving Radcliffe in 1972, she was appointed special assistant to the president of Princeton University, where she remained until 1975.

Harvard President Neil L. Rudenstine recalled Bunting: "I had the privilege of knowing Polly Bunting as a colleague and friend for many years, beginning in the 1970s when she came to Princeton. She helped guide Princeton through its early years as a coeducational university, and I came to rely on her for advice and help in my role there as Dean of the College.

"She was a warm and wonderfully open person, full of wit and wisdom, with a clear vision of education for women and indeed for all students," Rudenstine said. "She will be greatly missed, but her many contributions to Radcliffe, to Harvard, and to higher education as a whole will long endure."

Smith earned a bachelor's degree from Vassar College in 1931, and master's and doctoral degrees from the University of Wisconsin in agricultural bacteriology.

She is survived by four children and four stepchildren: Mary B. Decher, of Bellevue, Wash.; Charles I. Bunting of Shelburne, Vt.; William H. Bunting of North Whitefield, Maine; John E. Bunting of New Boston, N.H.; Pamela Smith of Harvard, Mass.; Reynolds Smith of Harvard, Mass.; Gail Smith Biggar of Concord, Mass.; and Hilary Smith of Peacham, Vt.; as well as four grandchildren and four children-in-law.

Services will be held at the convenience of the family.

Donations in her memory may be sent to the Bunting Institute, Radcliffe College, 34 Concord Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138, or the Piscataquog Watershed Association, 47 Perkins Pond Rd., Weare, N.H. 03281.