Pub GuideGlucksman, Loretta Brennan
The Irish Americans
As National Chairman of The American Ireland Fund, Loretta Brennan Glucksman has been called “Ireland’s greatest advocate” in the United States. Focusing on the revival of Irish culture and the nurturing of Irish-American culture, Glucksman is the co-founder of Glucksman Ireland House (the Center for Irish Studies at New York University), where more than 700 students engage in Irish and Irish-American studies on subjects of art, literature, history and language.
Education has been at the forefront of Gluckman’s efforts. Ireland House is a townhouse just off Washington Square in New York, donated to New York University by Loretta and her late husband Lew Glucksman, who passed away in 2006. She also supports educational programs at the University of Limerick and University College of Cork.
The American Ireland Fund has worked extensively to fund the integration of Protestant and Catholic children in Northern Ireland. Glucksman said to The Irish Examiner of her work with the Fund, “When people see children who have never been allowed to be educated together doing just that, they want to be involved. I have every optimistic hope that our efforts will help in a very real way towards peace and opportunity.”
A third-generation Irish-American, Glucksman grew up in Allentown, Pennsylvania in a predominantly Irish community. Her maternal grandparents immigrated from Leitrim in Famine times. Her paternal grandparents hailed from Donegal.
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