Following the tragedy of September 11, the American Ireland Fund decided to make a gift of $1 million to help the victims of the attacks and set up a grants committee to advise on how this money should best be spent.
No stranger to readers of Irish America, Loretta Brennan Glucksman is chairperson of the American Ireland Fund, a fund established to promote peace, cultural and business growth in Ireland. With her husband, Lewis Glucksman, they have donated $3 million to the Center of Irish Studies at New York University and founded Glucksman Ireland House. The Glucksmans have homes in Manhattan and Ireland, and Loretta was in Shannon Airport on September 11th, waiting to board a flight to New York when the attacks happened. She describes how being in Ireland during the day of national mourning that they held for America was “a profoundly moving experience. All schools, pubs and shops closed; churches large and small were overflowing as Ireland mourned for America.” ♦
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