difference."
Making a difference
didn't mean fighting in the
front lines in Israel; it was
more or less delivering pa-
pers and typing memos for
his supervisors. But one
responsibility begat a next,
more important one, and in
1976 at the age of 24, two
years after signing on as a
go-fer for $4,000, Mr. Aron-
son was named campaign
director of the Milwaukee
federation.
"He has tremendous peo-
ple skills and he's a
natural-born campaigner,"
former Milwaukee federa-
tion President Mark
Brickman said. "As a cam-
paign director, he became
one of the best in the coun-
try."

By the time Mr. Aronson
turned 30, he was recruited
by the Council of Jewish
Federations in New York
to work as a community
consultant. But when Mr.
Brickman later took office
as Milwaukee's federation
president, one of his first
moves was to recruit Mr.
Aronson back home.
"I wanted Bob back
here," Mr. Brickman said.
"He was so close to me and
to my family. And he knew
Milwaukee. This is a man
who single-handedly raised

two-thirds of the $18 mill-
ion we needed to build a
Jewish Community Center
campus. At the time, he
had offers from many
communities and national
and international organ-
izations. He made a basic
decision to stay in
Milwaukee. But last year
when he decided to leave
for Detroit, he did it be-
cause it was an important
career move for him. Ob-
viously Detroit's gain is
our loss, a major loss.
"This is a guy who was a

Bob Aronson has reached one of
the top spots in federation work
after 15 years as a Jewish
community professional.

trouble-maker in high
school here," Mr.
Brickman added. "But he's
also one of my closest
friends."
Todd Lapin was presi-
dent of the Milwaukee fed-
eration when Mr. Aronson
decided to leave for Detroit.
He said that everyone kid-
dingly gave him a hard
time about leaving.
"It was a career move for
him, and we couldn't stand
in his way," Mr. Lapin
said. "He is missed, but
like the professional he is,
he set up an organization
here that was able to carry
on quite well with his leav-
ing."
Mr. Aronson filled the
position left vacant by
Martin Kraar, who left for

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS 25

