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5 THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT
Jean Gajano
Short Hills executive shares a clear vision for the world
WRITTEN BY OWEN PROCTOR
JEAN GAJANO
“...MOST AMERICANS
DON’T REALIZE THAT
THERE ARE FAMILIES
LIVING RIGHT IN THEIR
CITY, OR ATTENDING
SCHOOL ALONGSIDE THEIR
CHILDREN, WHO CAN’T
AFFORD TO BUY A PAIR OF
PRESCRIPTION EYEGLASSES.”
J
ean Gajano’s economics degree launched her into a successful Wall
Street career, but twists of fate led her to the New Jersey suburbs
and helping those who don’t have an often-overlooked necessity.
She is executive director of New Eyes for the Needy, a nonprofit
founded in Short Hills in 1932. The organization provides new
prescription eyeglasses for low-income Americans and recycles
gently used glasses that are distributed overseas.
“While there’s global awareness of the lack of access to prescription
eyeglasses, most Americans don’t realize that there are families living right
in their city, or attending school alongside their children, who can’t afford
to buy a pair of prescription eyeglasses,” Gajano says.
14
MAY 2019 MILLBURN & SHORT HILLS MAGAZINE
AFTER HER SON’S ILLNESS, SHE
BECAME ACTIVE IN COMMUNITY
SERVICE.
The Long Island native studied
French and economics at Vassar
College, from which she graduated
in 1981. She’d always loved French
since she started learning the lan-
guage in junior high school, and her
economic knowledge advanced a
banking and finance career for many
years in New York City.
After marrying Italian immigrant
Alessandro Gajano, she commuted
to the city from her adopted home-
town of Chatham, where they raised
Alberto and Alessandra. But when
11-year-old Alberto suffered a brain
hemorrhage in December 1989, Jean
dropped everything to tend to her
son’s needs.
JEAN GAJANO