A Conversation with Barry Gaberman

by Roger M. Williams | Foundation News & Commentary

Ford Foundation Senior Vice President Barry Gaberman—the Council's 2006 Distinguished Grantmaker Award recipient—has spent 35 years helping to build philanthropy in the United States and abroad.

Many officers of the venerable Ford Foundation have taken long routes to get there, but few as long (and exotic) as this year's winner of the Council on Foundations' Distinguished Grantmaker Award. Barry D. Gaberman, Ford's senior vice president, began life in Shanghai—on the eve of America's involvement in World War II—then went to Israel and on to Madison, Wisconsin. Once at the foundation, however, he put down deep roots: He retires this year after 35 consecutive years on its staff.