Spirit of Generosity: Dr. Eugene “Gene”Garfield
It was the late 1980s, and Dr. Eugene Garfield came across an article about Sister Mary Scullion. The article told of her work at the Women of Hope residences, through which practically all of the women living on the streets with serious mental illness had been able to find a place to live.
An information scientist by vocation, Dr. Garfield wanted to understand what made Women of Hope so successful. He gave Sister Mary a call, and followed it up with a visit to see first-hand the issues facing men and women who were homeless and the kinds of programs that worked. The rest is history – a friendship was started that day, as was a quarter century of his staunch support, initially for Women of Hope and then for the new organization which Sister Mary co-founded, Project HOME.
One of our earliest supporters, Dr. Eugene “Gene”Garfield may also be one of our most accomplished. With a doctorate in Structural Linguistics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1961, Dr. Garfield founded the Institute for Scientific Information – a company born of a scientific mind and entrepreneurial spirit, which is now a large section of Thomson Reuters’ science division.
Specifically, his conception and development of the Science Citation Index allowed for the calculation of the impact of scientific journals on hard science itself. Called the “Father of Citation Analysis” because of his groundbreaking work in connecting the body of scientific knowledge into a network, Dr.Garfield is also considered the “grandfather of Google,” because his research later informed the creators of that company. Dr. Garfield is also a veteran, having served in the Army during World War II.
His son’s own military experience in Vietnam affected him more than his own. Like many Vietnam vets, his son experienced post-war struggles. Dr. Garfield’s resulting concern for alleviating the debilitating effects of military service is evident in that he has donated the equivalent of his decades of veteran’s pension to Project HOME’s supportive services for veterans. We are grateful for Dr. Garfield’s long-standing support, his friendship, his trust, and especially his passion for our veterans facing challenging times.
