Jerry White

Jerry White (born June 7, 1963) is Executive Director of the United Religions Initiative. He co-founded the Survivor Corps, formerly the Landmine Survivors Network, created by and for survivors to help victims of war, and is a member of the International Campaign to Ban Landmines, which was the recipient of the 1997 Nobel Peace Prize. He was a Professor of Practice at the University of Virginia from 2015 to 2022. He is a Senior Ashoka Fellow and a Gabelli Fellow at the Gabelli School of Business in New York City. Background In 1984, while studying abroad in Jerusalem, White lost his lower right leg after stepping on a landmine during a backpacking trip. The mine had been laid by Syrian soldiers during the 1967 war. Following this incident, White co-founded Survivor Corps with Ken Rutherford, where he led efforts to draft and enact human rights and humanitarian legislation, including the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, promoting and protecting the rights of 650 million people with disabilities. Through this work, White arranged for Diana, Princess of Wales, to visit Bosnia and Herzegovina, and later joined in efforts to promote a "mine-free Middle East" with King Hussein and Queen Noor of Jordan. In 2010, White received a Knesset vote in Israel to clear sufficiently old minefields, including the Baptismal Site of Jesus on the Jordan River.