Paul Ylvisaker

Ylvisaker joined the Ford Foundation in 1955 and served as the foundation’s advocate for cities and the urban form. He also was appointed as the first commissioner of New Jersey’s Department of Community Affairs and assisted in mediating Newark’s riots following Martin Luther King, Jr.’s assassination with a more peaceful methodology. According to his colleagues , he saw the importance of a society’s intellectual and scientific wealth contributing to a more equitable distribution of rights and resources. He believed academic pursuits alone were fruitless, and scholarship must inform real world action to enact positive change.