Photos by Glenn Triest
Larry Ziffer and his wife, Florence.
self as "the grease between
the wheels," or a person who
helps programs run more
smoothly. Friends and asso-
ciates, however, describe him
in much more grandiose
terms.
"He's been the spirit, the
driving force behind Neigh-
borhood Project," said Rhoda
Raderman, director of that
program. "In a sense, he's like
a visionary."
Since Mr. Ziffer helped
Neighborhood Project get off
the ground about eight years
ago, the program has provid-
ed more than $3 million in
interest-free loans to 670
families buying homes in Oak
Park and Southfield. The ob-
jective, Ms. Raderman said,
was to preserve traditionally
Jewish locales.
"Larry provided 100 per-
cent support and commit-
ment," Ms. Raderman said.
"He has the ability to relate
to all different types of peo-
ple in the community, from
rabbis to agency staff, to top
lay leaders, to grass-roots
people — from secular to re-
ligious," Mr. Aronson said.
"He's done a wonderful job."
Federation officials hope to
"It's a commitment to his
community."
She and others will also
miss Mr. Ziffer's stand-up
comedy shtick at Federation's
staff Chanukah party. This is
a time when the behind-the-
scenes guy takes center stage.
Ms. Raderman reports that
people "just roared" at Mr.
Ziffer's "top 10 reasons to love
the Fisher Building" routine
this year.
hire another planning direc-
tor by May to provide the
newcomer with a month of
training before Mr. Ziffer
heads for Baltimore.
Mr. Ziffer's wife, Florence,
who teaches first-grade He-
brew at Akiva Hebrew Day
School, will join him. They
have four children: Yossi, 16,
who is studying at a yeshiva
in Israel; Dovid, 12; Ariel, 9;
and Elisheva, 5.
Federation Executive Vice
President Robert Aronson
says Mr. Ziffer has a medley
of character traits: firm and
directive, yet warm and
diligent.
"He's been the
spirit behind
Neighborhood
Project."
— Rhoda Raderman
Committed To The Communal
Federation
official
Larry Ziffer
is leaving to
serve the
Baltimore
community.
RUTH LMIVIANN STAFF WRITER
ewish Federation Plan-
ning Director Larry Zif-
fer is leaving Detroit —
but he's not abandoning
a career in Jewish com-
munal service. In June,
Mr. Ziffer will begin
work as vice president for
community development at
the Associated: Jewish Com-
munity Federation in Balti-
more, Md.
He says the move enables
him to further a dream that
began decades ago. As a boy,
Larry Ziffer wanted to follow
in his father's footsteps,
straight to ...
"Meetings. My father had
a wide range of Jewish com-
munal roles (and) was always
going to meetings. When I
was a kid, I thought the neat-
est thing would be to grow up
and go to meetings, too," he
said.
Years later, Mr. Ziffer has
reached that goal many times
over, and in so doing has re-
alized other rewards of his ca-
reer. As the Detroit Jewish
Federation's planning direc-
tor since 1985, the former
Schenectady, N.Y., Jewish
youth group president and
day-camp counselor — who
later was ordained as a rabbi
at Yeshiva University — says
his job at the Detroit Feder-
ation has given him opportu-
nities to help his community
flourish.
His responsibilities have
included working with Fed-
eration agencies, budget al-
locations and programming.
He has worked on Jewish ed-
ucation reform — revamping
the Agency for Jewish Edu-
cation — and helped draft
Federation's strategic plan.
He has worked extensively
with laypersons, or volun-
teers, in the Jewish commu-
nal world. He says the
relationship has been re-
warding.
"At the community level,
I really enjoy being the kind
of person who can think, sit
back and work, then inter-
act with people who are
`change agents.' There's a
good marriage here be-
tween my own personality
and what I enjoy doing, the
way I enjoy working. I en-
oy being a resource behind
the scenes," he said.
Mr. Ziffer describes him-
Larry Ziffer: "A visionary."