The Arena Associates
\ •
William Davidson, David Hermelin and
Robert Sosnick are the owners of the
Auburn Hills Entertainment Center. All of
the men are intensely private about their
business affairs. Even Hermelin, the most
forthcoming of the three, is described as
The Silent H Factor" by a former
contractor who would receive unexpected
work-plan changes with only the
explanation, "Mr. Hermelin's orders."
In spite of their low profiles in
business, they're all active in the
community and willingly devote their time
and energies to charitable causes.
The partners give their time, as well as
their financial support, to such diverse
philanthropic activities as the Allied Jewish
Campaign, the Michigan Cancer
Foundation and the Weizmann Institute.
Davidson and Hermelin are past presidents
of Cong. Shaarey Zedek, and Sosnick is an
active board member of Temple Israel.
WILLIAM DAVIDSON: Owner of the
Detroit Pistons and Guardian Industries.
DAVID HERMELIN: Low public profile
in business, but megawatts on the philanthropic scene.
ROBERT SOSNICK: One of Oakland
County's most prominent builders and developers.
The principal owner of the Detroit Pis-
tons, Davidson is also the chairman of the
board of Northville-based Guardian Indus-
tries. An astute businessman, Davidson
began at Guardian, which was founded by
his uncle, in the mid-1950s when the busi-
ness was floundering. He took Guardian
public, turned it into a profitable Fortune
500 company, then later bought it himself.
Warren Coville, a retired Guardian
executive, says the key to Davidson's suc-
cess is his quick mind. He is able to sort
the wheat from the chaff."
"David is energetic, exciting and con-
stantly in motion. He's a man who wants to
do a lot in his life," says Jonathan
Holtzman who knows Hermelin through a
number of property management collabora-
tions.
The 50-year-old Hermelin must be in
constant motion just to keep up with his
community activities. He is chairman of the
Michigan Cancer Foundation, and interna-
tional chairman of the State of Israel Bonds
campaign.
Born in Detroit, Hermelin was a found-
ing partner of the Hermelin, Colburn, Col-
burn, Blumberg and Steinberg insurance
agency, which became one of the state's
larger independents. He is currently chair-
man of the board of Phoenix Steel Corp.,
the chairman and director of Federal
Enterprises which owns and operates WWJ
and WJOI, and he's a board member at the
First of America Corporation-Detroit, and
the Village Green Management Co.
Holtzman says Hermelin's business ac-
tivities show a "combination of intelligence,
foresight and a co-operative attitude." Says
Holtzman, Some people are closers and
some people are just talkers. A closer talks,
but goes on to make it happen. David is a
closer."
Robert Sosnick has been described as
"confident" and "tight-lipped." When con-
tacted by The Jewish News about the arena
project, Sosnick said, "I prefer you talk to
my partner (Hermelin); I build."
And build is what he does. At the age
of 51, he is the foremost office developer in
metro Detroit; he has developed more than
2.5 million square feet of office space in
Oakland County.
As president of Real Estate Develop-
ment and Investment Co., his activities in-
clude ownership and management roles in
businesses and real estate across southeast-
ern Michigan — from the Wolverine Tower
in Ann Arbor to the Top of Troy where his
offices are located. Also, he is a. director of
Liberty Bank-Oakland.
The Detroit-born Sosnick is a patron of
the arts actively involved at the Detroit In-
stitute of Arts where he is a trustee of the
Friends of Modern Art. He is respected in
art circles for his sensitive taste and a dis-
criminating eye for the avant-garde.
Sosnick is chairman of the Detroit
Committee for the Weizmann Institute of
Science. He also sits on the boards of the
Jewish Welfare Federation and Temple Is-
rael.
After 15 years of daily squash matches
with Davidson, Coville offers this profile: "I
would describe him as honest, very fair
with people, and private — a private per-
son, a man of few but meaningful words."
Born in Detroit 64 years ago, Davidson
earned a business administration degree
from the University of Michigan, and soon
after a juris doctor degree in law from
Wayne State University.
Davidson has a history of involvement
in a number of community and Israeli
philanthropic, cultural and educational ef-
forts. He is a past president of Cong.
Shaarey Zedek and a past _chairman of the
Allied Jewish Campaign.
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