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Other Ramco-Gershenson
Properties Trust developments in the
metro Detroit area include West
Oaks One and Two in Novi, near
-\
Twelve Oaks Mall.
"The. Gershenson family has had
an association with metropolitan
Detroit for all of our father's and our
three uncles' lives as well as our
own," said Dennis Gershenson. "My -)
father, Bill, and his brothers, Aaron,
Charles and Sam, all went to
Highland Park High School, the
family having emigrated to the
United States from Russia.
"They formed a company called
Ned's Auto Supply in the early
1920s. Their first gas station pump
was at John R and Nevada.
Ultimately, they expanded that into
not only a full auto service, selling
primarily Firestone tires, but a retail
component as well, which is proba-
bly one of the things that led my
father and my uncle Aaron into
developing shopping centers."
The Ned's Auto Supply stores
retailed washers, dryers and bicycles.
Ultimately, they expanded to 10
stores, and became the largest
Firestone dealers in the world.
By the early 1950s, there was a
recognition that the original four
Gershensons,ought to either expand
the gas stations into the suburbs, or
sell the chain to Firestone. They
opted to sell.

(

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3160 Haggerty Road, Suite M

West Bloomfield, MI

(248) 960-3737
www.midwestautotel.com

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LINCOLN

Mercury

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Oak Park

AUTOMOTIVE
GROUP

Mel Farr Lincoln Mercury
Waterford

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Bloomfield Hills

Mel Farr
"Superstar" Used Cars

THE SUPERSTA

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DEALER

1.800 MEL-FARR

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9/26
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208

Ferndale

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From auto parts
to shopping
centers over
70 years.

Bill and Aaron Gershenson were
married to two sisters. Dennis'
mother, Sylvia, died last September,
and her sister, Bernice, was Aaron's
wife.
"I think because of the very close
relationship of those four people,
Aaron and Bill basically started off
getting into endeavors working
together, while my uncle Charles and
my uncle Sam did other things," said
Dennis Gershenson. They (Bill and
Aaron) built a number of residential —/
subdivisions, ultimately getting
involved in the development of shop-
ping centers.
"They built the first enclosed mall