Charitable service is a way of life for Board of Trustees member and UB alumnus Abraham I. Gordon (B.A. '54), who has used his energies to help save lives around the world. A Rotarian since 1973, Abe is an active proponent of polio eradication efforts and works with fellow Rotarians worldwide in the immunization of babies.

Smallpox, considered eradicated in 1977, stands as the only natural disease to have been eliminated by immunization. Since 1985, Rotary's polio-eradication program has helped reduce the incidence of that disease to the point that 85 percent of the world is currently polio-free, including North and South America, Europe and the Pacific Rim nations. "Our biggest concerns are the polio-endemic nations in the African sub-Sahara belt of nations and in the sub-continent of Asia, particularly India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan," said Abe.

To date, Rotary has raised more than $1 billion, directly and with government assistance, toward the goal of declaring the world free of polio by 2005. The only way to truly eradicate polio is to ensure that every child in the world is immunized, emphasizes Abe. So long as one child carries polio in his or her body, the disease will continue.

Abe has also been active in Rotary's "Gift of Life" program, which provides heart surgery for children. While in Malaysia, Abe arranged for a local hospital to cooperate in this program, and to date more than 50 children under five years of age have been saved. The hospital in Malaysia has promised to do a minimum of 25 such surgeries each year. "Gift of Life" programs throughout the world have so far saved over 2,500 children's lives.

Abe recently returned from a polio immunization program in Africa, where he and his late wife Marilyn (UB alumna, B.A. '72, M.A. '85), led the effort of Rotary International in immunizing babies in Ghana and Togo. "I can think of no greater joy than those moments when I personally gave the babies their polio immunizations, as I knew those babies would be free of polio. Unfortunately, while in Africa, I could see older children on the streets who had already suffered the crippling and debilitating effects of polio," Abe said.

Asked why he and his family participate so actively in these worldwide life-saving programs, Abe noted the Biblical admonition, "He who saves a single life saves the world entire." All lives everywhere are of equal importance.

A graduate of Duke University School of Law, Abe practices law in Bridgeport and is past president of the Rotary Club of Bridgeport. He has served as the international vice president of Rotary International, which has 1,250,000 members in 190 countries. He is currently chairman of the Rotary Youth Leadership Award program, which provides leadership training to more than 500 districts worldwide for high school and university-level students. "As we train our younger generation, we expand the number of hands which can reach out to those in need, so that we may improve the quality of the world in which we live," Abe said.