Description
An upbringing in the WASP enclaves of suburban Boston gave Arthur D. Ullian an early taste of antisemitism, and later sent him on a search through Judeo-Christian history for the roots of discrimination against the Jewish people.
Following a successful career in New England real estate and a life-changing accident that left him paralyzed at age 51, Arthur D. Ullian began to realize that not only did life in a wheelchair make him feel “different,” but he had always felt like an outsider to some degree. This sent him on a multi-year research project investigating antisemitism from the New Testament to the Inquisition to the Holocaust. He came to see that over the course of his life he had, paradoxically, internalized the prevailing Christian view of the “Jewish character” and unconsciously attempted to replicate the social and material trappings of those who excluded him. From the world of private schools, cotillion classes, sailing yachts, and restricted clubs to the Halls of Congress where he successfully advocated for medical research with Christopher Reeve, Ullian’s life is one that illustrates the Jewish concept of Tikkun Olam, or “Repair the World.” In Matthew, Mark, Luke, John . . . and Me—a thoughtful, historically-grounded, and often humorous memoir—he interweaves personal experience with his exploration of the roots of stereotypes, ending with reasons to hope that historic Jewish–Christian enmities will fade and brotherhood prevail.
Now available as an audiobook!
Arthur D. Ullian is a founding partner of the Boston Land Company, a real estate development firm. In 1991, he became paralyzed following a bicycling accident, and has since used his business and entrepreneurial skills to advocate for increased federal funding of biomedical research. His contributions in this area include testimony at numerous congressional hearings and organizing research-related educational forums and roundtables on Capitol Hill. Ullian served as president of the National Council on Spinal Cord Injury, chairman of the Task Force on Science, Healthcare & the Economy, a member of the Advisory Council to the director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and the Harvard University Embryonic Stem Cell Research Oversight Committee. He has received numerous awards and honors for his service, and has co-authored articles in several national and international peer-reviewed journals. He is married to Dora with one son Ben, his wife Anne-Marie, and two grandchildren, Otis and Seraphina.