Gainful Employment

For Ron Bruder, the horrors of 9/11 served as a pivot point into active philanthropy. A real estate developer who calls New York City his hometown, he was particularly interested in tackling the social conditions in the Muslim world that foment support for such violent radicalism--specifically, the lack of jobs. After consulting Middle East scholar Shibley Telhami of the University of Maryland, Bruder concluded that the people most resentful of the U.S. were those who were educated but lacked employment. The time he had spent doing business in Northern Ireland confirmed Bruder's notion that the path to peace and democracy lay...