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Franklin A. Thomas ’s
career spanned
many civic roles, from assistant U.S. attorney to president and CEO of the Bedford Stuyvesant
Restoration Corporation. In 1979, he was named
president of the Ford Foundation, where he served until 1996. He lived in New York City until his death in 2021.
“Few people can provide a better window into the transformation of modern philanthropy than Frank Thomas. And in doing so, Frank provides us all with essential lessons in ethical leadership.” —Lee Bollinger, president, Columbia University “An Unplanned Life is both a vivid memoir and a rich history of New York—and America—at a critical turning point.” —Sharon Rockefeller, president and CEO, WETA
philanthropy, and civic life. This brilliant memoir perfectly captures the man whose impact on our lives is still felt today.” —Indra Nooyi, former chair and CEO, PepsiCo
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FRANKLIN A. THOMAS
“Frank Thomas blazed a path like no other—through government,
AN UNPLANNED LIFE
PRAISE FOR AN UNPLANNED LIFE
Memoir
F
$28.99 U.S.
ranklin A. Thomas was one of the most
influential people of our time. As for-
mer president of the Ford Foundation
(the first African American to hold this position), former president of the Bedford Stuyvesant
Restoration Corporation (the first community development organization of its kind), member of countless corporate boards, and a key player
in facilitating the end of the apartheid era in South Africa, Thomas shaped public policy, philan-
thropy, and the movement for human rights for over half a century.
An Unplanned Life offers an insider’s
account of some of the most crucial transfor-
mations of the contemporary era: efforts to
rebuild America’s cities, struggles to reform philanthropy, and the quest to establish a global order based on human rights and racial equity. As
a story of firsts, Thomas’s memoir also chronicles a formative era, when a generation of African
AN UNPLANNED LIFE
Americans first broke through into the halls of
power, navigating complicated and sometimes treacherous cultural and political currents.
Much of Franklin A. Thomas’s life was
A MEMOIR
marked by his desire to stay out of the spotlight and to let his accomplishments speak for them-
selves. Now, in An Unplanned Life, we have his
FRANKLIN A. THOMAS
full story, in all of its nuance, drama, and richly narrated detail.