For the Second
Year in a Row...
you can still find his mother
there.
"It (Wells Cargo) got really
big, and about a year later, my
dad took me to lunch and asked
me how much business we were
doing. I told him we were doing
really good, that we were going
to do $3 million in business that
year.
"And he said, 'Let me tell you
what I did last year.' So he told
me some numbers, and he said,
`As a matter of fact, I'd like to
make you an offer to come into
the business.'
"I had been waiting for an of-
fer to go into the real estate busi-
ness ever since I was 5 years old,
and my grandfather had me out
there picking up nails. I always
wanted to be in real estate. I al-
ways liked it, it was the natural
thing I wanted to do," said the
Mr. Silverman.
"I always liked construction.
I've always liked land," he said.
"I had the business background
that I'd gotten at Berkeley, and
I had some knowledge of busi-
ness experience at my mom's
store, and I'd waited tables when
I worked at a restaurant in col-
lege. So I had some restaurant
experience, retail experience, and
college experience, and I came
into the company."
Mr. Silverman also had some
of the greatest teachers in the
real estate development world.
"My father has a tremendous
real estate acumen," said Mr. Sil-
verman. "And then I worked for
A. Alfred Taubman and Max
Fisher. When I was 26, I was re-
porting to Max and Al and Miles
Jaffe when, along with Richard
Kughn and others, we built
Riverfront Apartments in down-
town Detroit. It was just incred-
ible learning from those guys.
"They really are very into the
business, which was delightful
to me, because I'm really into it
too. So they'd sit after meetings
and talk with me for a long time
about how to approach things
this way or the other way. I got
to see how great real estate cor-
porations occur, and their inner
workings," said Mr. Silverman.
For a number of years, Buzz
was a partner of Toby Holtzman
and his sons, Matthew and
Jonathan. "Over the years we
went our separate ways, al-
though I'm still involved as a
board member of Village Green
Management Co., which is a
company Jonathan works at. I'm
involved in that company with
my father and David Hermelin,
who founded it in 1962. That's
what got us in the apartment
business."
Jonathan Holtzman is also
chairman of Village Green Apart-
ments, developers of Regents
Park of Troy, near Big Beaver
and Crooks roads.
The senior Mr. Silverman is
SILVERMAN page 68
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RINKE CADILLAC!
•
Additional S500
Lease Renewal
Incentive for
current Cadillac
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40111111111
1 , 1
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1997 Sedan
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S
ome employees of the Silverman Companies have been with
the firm through all three generations of Silvermans. A num-
S ber, like Benesch Thatch, are Holocaust survivors that Grand-
father Nathan helped come to the United States after World
War H.
"When we arrived in Detroit in December 1949," said Mr. Thatch,
"I mean the whole family -- myself, my wife, two children and a
mother-in-law — we found Nathan and his wife Esther waiting
for us.
"The fact that it was the middle of winter, and they were wait-
ing for us, and taking us to their home, was really something to
us.
"You have to realize what that meant to a person who came from
Europe at that time, where a Jewish family was not worth a thing
except for killing. To actually find people that you don't know, and
taking you into their home ...
"Nathan and Esther arranged for housing for us in an apart-
ment building owned by Louis Berry," Mr. Thatch said. "Mr. Berry
told me not to worry about the rent, because he owned the place,
and we could stay there as long as we wanted to.
"The warmth of the people was very impressive to a family that
had come to a new place, to a strange world, strange language and
strange people, and found such a warm reception."
Within a few weeks, Gilbert Silverman, Sr., asked Mr. Thatch,
who had been a lawyer in pre-war Kounos, Lithuania, if he would
like to work for the Holtzman and Silverman Company.
"Mr. Silverman asked me if I wanted to learn the building trade.
`But I'm not a builder,' I told him. 'How are you going to use me?'
And Mr. Silverman said, 'If I'm a builder, you're going to be a
builder."'
Now in his 48th year with the Silverman Companies, Mr. Thatch
was at the hospital when Buzz Silverman was born. He is now di-
rector of construction, of counsel. ❑
1997 Seville
SLS
Month
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Additional $500
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current Cadillac
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1997 Catera
Additional $500
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Month
36
MARTLEASE
$1900 down
$369
SMARTLEASE
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$13,593
GMAC Smartlease 36 months, 1st pymt., ref. sec. dep. of $600 or less, down pyme. as shown above, new plates or transfer fee, admin-
istration fee due on delivery. State & Lux. tax additional. Mileage limitation of 36,000 miles. 150/mile excess charge over limitation. Lessee
has option to purchase at lease end for pre determained price. To get total pymt., multiply pymt. by no. of months.
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1-696 AT VAN DYKE
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