Saying Bye To Matt

A traffic accident takes the life of a young man
at the start of a promising career.

PHIL JACOBS EDITOR

emember life gives you chal-
lenges so that you can over-
come them and get strength
Rfr om the experiences. Life
without adventure and misfortune
is no life at all.
Matthew Scott Doren recently
wrote the above message to a
friend who has cancer.
It was, according to his mother,
Naomi, just pure Matt to write
something like this.
This was her 22-year-old son, a
young man she had last seen alive
at Metro Airport when he took off
to begin an international banking
career in Taiwan.
Mrs. Doren was happy for her
son, sad for herself, and she cried
while watching him board the jet
last September.
Matt told his mom not to cry
but to be happy for him, that he
was off on the adventure of a life-
time.
"Little did I know that would be
the last I'd see him alive," said
Mrs. Doren.
Matthew Doren suffered a fa-

tal accident Feb. 19 in Bangkok,
Thailand, when the tourist van in
which he was a passenger collid-
ed with an oncoming truck. The
driver of the van had fallen asleep
at the wheel.
Matt was on vacation. He had
been working for the Four Seasons
American English Academy in
Pan Chaio, Taiwan. He was teach-
ing English and American cus-
toms to Taiwanese bankers.
It was Matt's dream, according
to his sister, Cheryl, to get a head
start on the burgeoning move to-
ward capitalism by mainland Chi-
na. He wanted to be there to begin
his career. That dream was tak-
ing off in fine fashion.
Matthew had worked on com-
mercials and two episodes of a tele-
vision soap opera. He had also
taken a position recently with the
Royal Bank of Canada, where he
planned to work with computers.
It was computers that kept him
in touch with his family, especial-
ly his mother. They e-mailed one
another regularly. The latest is-

sue Mrs. Doren was talking about
with her son involved the pur-
chase of jewelry in Bangkok.
Matthew apparently had been
"taken" by merchants there. He
had charged a jewelry purchase
on his credit card and was com-
municating with the credit card
company.

Matt Doren at the airport before leaving
for Taiwan last September.

His parents knew all about the
problem. So when the phone rang
at 12:15 a.m., Mrs. Doren thought
it had something to do with the
credit card and the jewelry. In-
stead, it was Paul Burkhead, the
American Embassy's vice consul
in Bangkok. He informed the fam-
ily that Matt had been in an ac-

cident and was at the Rayong Hos-
pital.
By 2:30 a.m., the family had
learned that Matt was in critical
condition. The family also would
learn from a Thai physician that
Matt had only 24-48 hours to live.
Matt's family was assisted by
an employee from a West Bloom-
field-based Thai restaurant who
called the hospital to learn that
Matt was brain dead, had suffered
a heart attack and a broken arm.
By Wednesday, Feb. 20, he was
gone.
If the death wasn't brutal
enough for the family, Mrs. Doren
received a fax from the U.S. Em-
bassy explaining that it would cost
$3,600 to have Matt's body trans-
ported back to Detroit. Or he could
be cremated in Thailand for $600.
"I have been with Matt through
every hurdle," said his mother.
"And in the end, he died in a for-
eign country. Until I saw him in
the coffin, I didn't believe it."
"Matt was an adventurer," said
his sister Cheryl. "He was self-dri-
ven and a very sociable, wonder-
ful guy. He always had the
attitude of Took out world, here I
come.' He'd do anything."
Matt was a member of the Al-
pha Tau Omega fraternity at
Michigan State University. He
was a 1992 graduate of Detroit
Country Day and was active in

.

B'nai B'rith Youth Organization's
Ronald L. Posen AZA chapter.
In addition to his mother and `-`
sister, he is survived by his father,
Martin; his grandmother, Esther
Mellner; and his great-aunt, Ruth
Kranitz.
Matt received his degree from
Michigan State University's
James Madison College interna-
tional relations department. The
diploma was given to the family
at the funeral. ❑

Correction

An article on the vulnerability
of the state's kosher law, which
appeared in the Feb. 21 edi-
tion, incorrectly stated that a
butcher, Michael Cohen, was
told by state officials not to sell
or advertise his meat as kosher
because he was open on the
Sabbath.
Rather, a state inspection
report said he was unable to
obtain kosher certification un-
less he "converted to orthodox
Hebrew (sic)." In light of that,
the official state report says
that he was told he "could not
sell or advertise meats as
kosher until [he] received rab-
binical supervision."

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