Gail Furman

Gail Furman was an American psychologist and political donor. Furman was President of the Furman Foundation, Inc. The foundation is a major donor to the Tides Center and the Media Matters for America, a left-leaning center for journalism founded by author David Brock.[1][2]

Gail Furman
Born
Gail Gorman

1946
Queens, New York, U.S.
DiedApril 17, 2019
Alma materUniversity of Michigan (BA)
New York University (PhD)
Spouse(s)Jay Furman (divorced)
ChildrenJason Furman
Jesse Furman

Early life and education

Furman was born in 1946 to a Jewish family in Queens, New York, the daughter of Martha and David Gorman.[3][4] Her mother was a performer who used the stage name Marny Frances.[3] She graduated from the University of Michigan and holds a PhD in Psychology from New York University.[5][6]

Career

Furman worked as a psychologist at the Fieldston School and the Dalton School from 1973 until 1990.[5][7]

In December 2003, Furman attended a gathering in New York City organized by Erica Payne in order to watch a screening of Democracy Alliance founder Rob Stein's PowerPoint presentation, The Conservative Message Machine Money Matrix. After the presentation, Furman agreed in front of the group to donate more than $25,000 to fund Stein to conduct a research project to determine "what kind of groups the Left needed to fund."[8]

At the second meeting of the Democracy Alliance in October 2005, Furman "demanded to know why the alliance wasn't creating a 'nerve center' that could book progressives on TV news shows."[9]

Furman along with George Soros and other Democracy Alliance members John R. Hunting; Paul Rudd (co-founder of Adaptive Analytics); Pat Stryker; Nicholas Hanauer; ex-Clinton administration official Rob Stein; Drummond Pike; real estate developer Robert Bowditch; Pioneer Hybrid International-heir and congressional candidate Scott Wallace; Susie Tompkins Buell; real estate developer Albert Dwoskin; and Taco Bell-heir Rob McKay, funded the Secretary of State Project, an American non-profit, 527 political action committee focused on electing reform-minded progressive Secretaries of State in battleground states, who typically oversee the election process.[10] The Alliance was critical in getting California Secretary of State Debra Bowen and Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie re-elected.

Personal life

She was married to real estate developer Jay Furman; they had two children: Barack Obama's chief economic advisor Jason Furman and federal judge Jesse Furman.[11] They later divorced.

Notes
  1. Once a liar, always a liar
  2. Jewish Daily Forward: "Wesley Clark Jumps in With Kosher-Style Kickoff - Whirlwind Week Sees General Angling for Dean’s Voters, Dollars" By E.J. Kessler September 26, 2003
  3. "Deaths Gorman, Martha". The New York Times. October 25, 2001.
  4. "Furman--Gail. UJA-Federation of New York mourns the passing of Gail Furman, beloved mother and mother-in-law of our friends Jesse Furman and Ariela Dubler who have long demonstrated leadership and an unwavering commitment to the Jewish community". New York Times. April 19, 2019.
  5. "Gail Furman Psychologist". Human Rights First. Retrieved January 13, 2019.
  6. "Gail Furman - Discover the Networks". www.discoverthenetworks.com. Retrieved 2020-05-27.
  7. Kuper, Peter (November 24, 1997). This Is Your Child. New York Magazine. p. 52.
  8. The Argument: Billionaires, Bloggers, and the Battle to Remake Democratic Politics p. 37
  9. op cit, p. 118-119
  10. Neubauer, Chuck (June 23, 2011). "Soros and liberal groups seeking top election posts in battleground states". Washington Times.
  11. "In Memoriam: Jay Furman, 1942-2015". New York University School of Law News. January 5, 2015.
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