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KIMBERLY LIFTON
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Staff Writer
eonard Simons describes
his relationship of more
than 60 years with partner
and best friend Lawrence
Michelson as the "Jewish
version of Damon and Pythias.”
Like Damon and Pythias — who,
according to classical legend, were so
close that Damon pledged his life for
Pythias — the founders of Troy-based
Simons Michelson Zieve Inc. Advertis-
ing have vowed forever to support
each other.
Neither of the men plans to retire.
Advertising, they said, has been good
to them, granting opportunities that
few find in their lifetimes. They have
traveled the world, developed long-
standing friendships and had suppor-
tive families.
Now in their 80s, the advertising
buffs still maintain offices at com-
pany headquarters, where each
spends about four hours a day.
Today, 59 years after they found-
ed the agency as Simons Michelson
Co., the duo has been rewarded with
what they call the most distinguish-
ed honor within the advertising
industry.
The Adcraft Club of Detroit has
endowed in their names a Wayne
State University professorship in
advertising with a fund of more than
$280,000.
WSU President David Adamany
said the professorship will enhance
the school's advertising curriculum
by elevating the standards of the
department.
"It is going to be vital to the
advertising business in the 21st cen-
tury to maintain a close and healthy
y
ADing Up
The Adcraft Club of Detroit has endowed a
professorship at Wayne State University in
honor of longtime advertising mavens
Lawrence Michelson and Leonard Simons
relationship with academia if it plans
to continue to be the strong economic
force that it has been in the 20th cen-
tury," said Tom Adams, retired board
chairman of Lintas:Campbell-Ewald
Co. and chairman of the Adcraft
Club's fund-raisin campaign.
"I'm thrilled," said Michelson, 85.
"This is one of the nicest things that's
ever happened to me in my life?'
Added Simons, 84, "To be honored
by your peers in the field in which you
made a living is quite an honor. To be
role models and to be recognized like
this happens to very few people in
their lives?'
About one-third of the money col-
lected for the endowment was con-
tributed by the pair's friends and
relatives.
Simons and Michelson act as com-
pany consultants, but they leave day-
to-day operations to James Michelson,
the elder Michelson's son and Morton
Zieve, Simons' son-in-law.
"I am flattered and thrilled that
the professorship has been named in
their honor," James Michelson said.
"The esteem they (Adcraft/WSU) hold
our company in is quite an honor for
us all."
"We're sticking around, trying to
be helpful," Simons told a group of Ad-
craft and WSU patrons at a recent
luncheon where the professorship was
announced. "We go to our son's ad
agency every day for a few hours
realizing when you get old you don't
lead; you don't follow; you just get out
of the way."
Simons and Michelson met when
they were teens, shortly after the
Simons family moved to Detroit from
Chicago. They played cards together --
with other young Jewish boys in
Detroit.
Simons landed a job with the now
defunct Detroit Ad Service after he
graduated from the old Central High
School. Soon after he started the job,
Simons recalled, his boss scolded him
for allowing friends to meet him for
lunch inside the office. That same day,
Michelson came into the office.
"I told him to leave and that I'd
meet him downstairs;' Simons said.
"And he said he came in for a job:"
They were office boys together for
about seven years and launched their
own agency just before the great Wall
Street stock market crash in 1929.
"In the partnership between
Leonard Simons and Lawrence
Michelson, there has never been a
cross word between them," said
lifelong friend Philip Slomovitz,
founder of The Jewish News.
Simons and Michelson attribute
their success to their close friendship.
"I've been the big mouth guy and
he's been the stable, idea man;'
Simons explained. "In all these years,
we never had a fight. We disagreed,
but someone always gave in. I'm a
world champion schnorrer. He made
the money and I gave it away?'
Michelson's view is more simply
stated.
"We love each other."
When the pair ran the company,
Michelson wrote the ads and Simons
gave the speeches. Michelson stepped
out of the limelight, devoting his
leisure time to his family, friends and
the Old Newsboys Fund, a charity
which primarily gives toys and
clothes to poor children during the
December holiday season.
Simons took the spotlight, rising
as a Jewish communal leader within
the Jewish Welfare Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit and within Thm-
ple Beth El, where he was president.
Among his accomplishments, he serv-
ed as president of the Detroit
Historical Society and has been active
in the Detroit Round Table of the
National Conference of Christians
and Jews.
Simons helped raise money to
build the Jewish Home for Aged
and the Hillel building at the
University of Michigan. He also did
fund-raising for Hebrew University,
Bar-Ilan University, the Technion
and Wayne State University, where
the WSU building also is named in
his honor. ❑
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
51