Gendel

Steven Gendel ’92

Special Agent

It would have been easy to predict Steven Gendel’s future success while he was at URI—the speech communication major ran four profitable businesses as a student, from bagel delivery to resume writing. His path to success was less predictable. Sixteen years ago, his son Josh was born weighing less than 1.5 pounds, with multiple medical disabilities—including cerebral palsy, epilepsy, and dystonia—for which he has endured 40 brain surgeries, most by the age of 10. In 2002, Josh was on life support when Gendel lost his job in the tech industry and spent the next four months at his son’s bedside, worried about his family’s future. Knowing he needed a career with flexibility, he pursued his real estate license and opened a Keller Williams franchise in Livingston, New Jersey, where he found more than a thriving business—he found a calling.

Last year, Gendel founded Josh Homes, working with his wife Erica ’94 to find homes for families with special needs and connect them with local resources. “If we can help them to feel part of their community, a lot of the other problems go away,” says Gendel. “It’s the right thing to do, to make communities stronger and more inclusive. I’m just a parent trying to do right by my kid.”

As for Josh, the teen attended his prom last year. “You know his body is working really hard to do it, but he always has the biggest smile on his face,” says Gendel. “He owns every room that he’s in.”

—Nicole Maranhas