Jim Emerman

From my early teens, I had an idea of myself as a civil rights activist. Like many of us, I was at loose ends regarding life after college. I moved to San Francisco and became part of the progressive scene in the Bay Area. In 1977 I coauthored a book called Our Roots Are Still Alive: The Story of the Palestinian People, which was published by a press my wife-to-be was associated with. I worked in solidarity with the Palestinian and other struggles around the world.

In 2005 I returned to the issues that had been close to me since my teen and college years: human and civil rights. At Encore.org, I launched and ran the Purpose Prize, a program that demonstrated that older people composed an undiscovered, and still largely untapped, continent of problem-solvers addressing pressing societal challenges. Since AARP took over the Purpose Prize in 2016, I’ve continued to work on other initiatives at Encore, all of which satisfied my yearning to advance social change.

Our three kids have always been a central focus for my wife and me. They embody our values. Our oldest daughter is a consultant to nonprofits; our son is a lawyer working on behalf of asylum-seekers; and our youngest daughter is a nurse, currently working with people with HIV and trans men and women. 

These days our roles as grandparents shape our lives as much as anything. Looking back thirteen years to the birth of our first grandchild, we’ve always spent a good part of each week helping to raise them. Now, with my wife retired and my paid work downshifting to ten or so hours a week, our relationship to them has become even more central to giving us meaning.