Publisher, Ex-Detroiter,
Murdered in San Diego

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fight years ago, Stuart
Shapiro, a graduate of
Southfield High
School, moved to California,
taking his small but growing
mail order business in rock
`n' roll memorabilia.
In San Diego he changed
his name to Todd S. Loren.
"I guess I thought it was a
rebellious thing to do, and I
always liked the name
Todd," he said last year.
Singlehandedly, Mr. Loren
turned a dream of combining
a boyhood fascination with
comic books and his love for
rock 'n' roll into a suc-
cessful, but controversial,
comic book genre depicting
. rock history.
Mr. Loren was found
murdered June 18 inside his
condominium in Hillcrest, a
re-gentrified section of
downtown San Diego. He
was 32.
Herbert Shapiro, Mr.
Loren's father, tried to reach
him twice June 18 after Mr.
Loren failed to appear at his
office. Mr. Shapiro drove
over to the condo and found
it locked. "I got worried, so I
got a locksmith to open the
door," Mr. Shapiro said.
San Diego police would not
comment on the murder. No
signs of forced entry were
found at the condo. Mr.
U
Loren's Chrysler LeBaron
was missing from the garage
and recovered two days later
by police in the San Fran-
cisco Bay area.
"No warrants have been
issued at this time,"said Sgt.
Bob Maths of the San Diego
police. "We are not focusing
on any one individual. We
are investigating several
leads."
Mr. Shapiro, along with
his wife Marilyn, owned a
West Bloomfield camera
shop for 20 years. They mov-
ed to San Diego three years
ago, and Mr. Shapiro began
working for his son.
Revolutionary Comics,
which Mr. Loren began in
1989, has irked some in the
music world with its
parodies and unauthorized
biographies of some of the
seamier sides of rock and
metal bands and idols. One
concessionaire representing
a handful of bands exerted
heavy pressure on Mr.
Loren's distributors. Two
years ago, the singing group
New Kids on the Block and
Winterland Concessions,
which owns the exclusive

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As featured in Style Magazine

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32506 Northwestern Highway • Farmington Hills • 851-7540

Todd Loren:
Controversial comics.

right to produce New Kid
products, sued Mr. Loren for
alleged copyright infringe-
ment.
Mr. Loren, who began col-
lecting comic books as a
young boy, began running
his own business at 16. His
record conventions were
held monthly at American
Legion halls in Southfield
and Farmington and later
in a handful of other
states. The conventions pro-
ved a gathering place for
punkers and rockers as well
as record collectors and
others seeking nostalgia.
In 1984, Mr. Loren made
good on his idea to take all
the rock souvenir merchan-
dise sold at concerts and sell
them through a catalogue.
He named the mail order
business Musicade. ❑

HIAS Names
Two To Lead

Two Detroiters were named
to leadership positions by the
Hebrew Immigrant Aid Socie-
ty (HIAS) at its 112th annual
meeting.
Joel Tauber, national chair-
man of the United Jewish Ap-
peal, was elected to a one-year
term on the board of directors
and Max Fisher was reelected
honorary vice president.
Other Detroiters serving in
the HIAS leadership include
Marcy Feldman, Emery Klein
and Bernard Stollman, who
are on the board, and Carolyn
Greenberg, David Handle-
man and George Zeltzer, who
are members of the HIAS Na-
tional Council.
HIAS is the international
migration agency of the
organized American Jewish
community and the largest
refugee agency in the United
States.

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