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Photo by Reed Hutchinson UCLA Photographic Services Judea Pearl has managed to transform revenge into activism through the foundation he established to promote his son’s ideals.

continuing danny's mission

Father's crusade for peace

BY WENDY SODERBURG
UCLA Today Staff

Two years have passed since the world learned of the brutal kidnapping and murder of Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in Karachi, Pakistan, at the hands of his Islamic captors on Feb. 21, 2002.

After Danny’s death, his family was determined that his name would live on. At the urging of hundreds of strangers who deluged the Pearls with e-mails and letters, the Daniel Pearl Foundation (www.danielpearl.org) was established, with Danny’s father, Judea Pearl, serving as president.

“People came to us and said, ‘You can’t let go; you have to continue Danny’s mission,’ ” said the elder Pearl, a professor emeritus of computer science at UCLA. “And his mission was to bring joy, friendship, communication and understanding to the world.”

The foundation, Pearl added, is the family’s form of revenge.

“Instead of seeking physical pain to those responsible, which is going to be futile in this case, we’re trying to eliminate the ignorance and the hate that took Danny’s life,” Pearl said. “I’m angry at the ideology that brought about that hate, and I am fighting it.”

Daniel Pearl

The activist father, though passionate, is given to easy laughter. Born in Tel Aviv and raised in Bnai Brak, he joined the Israeli Army at 17, where he “managed to stay a private for three years,” he said, chuckling.

After his Army stint, Pearl enrolled at Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, where he met Ruth Rejwan, a fellow electrical engineering student. The two graduated from Technion in 1960 and married that same year. Pearl and his new bride both went on to earn master’s degrees in electrical engineering from the New Jersey Institute of Technology in 1961, the same year daughter Tamara was born; Danny followed in 1963. Pearl continued with his education, earning a master’s degree in physics from Rutgers University and a Ph.D. in electrical engineering from the Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. Daughter Michelle was born in 1969, the same year Pearl joined the faculty at UCLA’s engineering school.

With a UCLA schedule that’s chock-full, Pearl conducts research in artificial intelligence, advises five Ph.D. students and teaches a graduate course on causal reasoning.

The computer scientist calls his work with the foundation very rewarding, although he admits it is not easy to raise money for the foundation’s programs: fellowships to Pakistani journalists, worldwide concerts to promote tolerance and public dialogues between Muslims and Jews. Earlier this month, the foundation teamed with Hillel at UCLA to bring veteran reporter Daniel Schorr to campus as part of the Daniel Pearl Lecture Series in Journalism and International Relations.

He and Ruth recently published a book titled “I Am Jewish: Personal Reflections Inspired by the Last Words of Daniel Pearl,” which includes contributions from 150 public figures such as Larry King and Richard Dreyfuss, each reflecting on what “being Jewish” means to them.

Pearl’s dream is to someday establish the Daniel Pearl School of Journalism in the Middle East. “There, journalists can learn about free press, responsible journalism, and truth, honesty and objectivity in reporting,” he said. “That would put us a quantum leap ahead in our fight against ignorance and hate.”