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"It takes many years to rebuild a
city. You have to create the momen-
tum and desire. To me, it's like a
mosaic: a little piece here, a little
piece there. It's not one great big
surge. We're building some buildings
downtown, General Motors is taking
over the Renaissance Center, we're
going to build Campus Martius,
we're rebuilding around the sympho-
ny. Then we have to build houses,"
Fisher said.
"Don't forget, Detroit is the heart
of this area. Detroit is the banking
center, the manufacturing center. I
remember a talk I gave at the
Economic Club: 'Cities are built by
people and destroyed by people.' I'm
an optimist. I'm a great believer in
the future. People 90 years of age
don't talk about the future, they talk
about the past. I talk about the
future."
But he is loathe to talk about his
successors in the Jewish world.
Leaders, he noted, "surface."
President Clinton was an unknown
two years before his run for the pres-
idency. Harry Truman, too, he point-
ed out.
"A man who is going to be a leader
has to have people who will follow He
has to develop a consensus, to bring
people together," Fisher said.
He considers himself that kind of
leader, and noted with pride that he
was one of the first Jews to. get
involved with United Foundation
(now United Way Community
Services).
"A good Jew is a good citizen, and
philanthropy comes from Jewish
tzedakah. Long before Christianity,
we took care of people.
"I think being an American, you
should be involved in the general
community. You can be involved in
Jewish life, which you should be, but
you also have a responsibility to the
general community."
Fisher himself does not like to talk
about the Jewish Federation, much
less the world, without him, except
to say that "nothing ever stays per-
manent.
"It's a moving target, depending
on the priorities and needs of the
community. It may be that overseas
may not need as much. Time alone
will take care of it. Nothing ever
stays the same."
He hesitates when asked what he
most wants to be remembered for.
"I don't know. I am what I am.
Max Fisher. I hope it stands for
something." 71

r.

Max Fisher's daughter Jane Sherman and her husband, Larry, at the DIA party for Fisher's 90th birthday.

A Worthy Successor

Iff

ax Fisher points to his
daughter Jane
Sherman, or "Janey,"
as he affectionately
calls her, as a spiritual successor.
She has followed in his footsteps
as a player in Jewish communal
affairs and, he said, has surpassed
him in her commitment to Jewish
life. He noted that she has given her
own children a Jewish education,
something he never had.
"Janey made a speech to me at the
party the other night — it was the
most beautiful thing — about how I
never told any of them what to do,
but they feel deeply committed to
the welfare of people," Fisher said.
In 1962, just a year or so after
Jane married Larry Sherman, her
father sent them to Israel for a Young
Leadership Cabinet meeting.
Sherman, who was involved in the
women's division of United Jewish
Appeal, said she was still at an age
where she wasn't listening too intent-
ly to what her parents told her to do.
"I was hooked," Sherman said of
their 3-week stay in Israel. "I wanted

to make aliyah. It's a perfect example
of how my father taught of all us: by
example, not by telling us, 'I want
you to do that or do this.'"
In Florida, where the Shermans
lived at the time, and then Detroit,
Sherman immersed herself in Jewish
communal affairs. She became the
first female chairperson of the Allied
Jewish Campaign and serves on the
Detroit Federation's board of gover-
nors, the Jewish Agency and United
Jewish Appeal, serves as treasurer of
United Israel Appeal and is vice-
president of the United Jewish
Foundation. Sherman also ran the
first Federation Teen Mission two
years ago.
"I didn't do it because he wanted
me to do it. It was the role he played
that got me involved. For years, I
never told anyone who my father
was because I was trying to achieve a
position for myself. I didn't want to
do it on his back." But, Sherman
acknowledged, "I have to say there
were positions I was able to get to
faster because of the people I met
[through my father]."

Although she and her father hold
different political views — she's a
Democrat and happens to be more
liberal — she said she wishes she had
Fisher's talent for bringing together
people who hold divergent views, for
showing patience and understanding
for all of them.
"He's been able to bring divergent
groups and put them together and
get them to come to an understand-
ing without friction. The CJF-UJA
merger, he's had a major impact on
those talks, and his influence is
instrumental in making sure they
don't kill each other. He gets them to
focus on issues," Sherman said.
She is entirely in sync with her
father on the issue of the centrality
of Israel and hopes Detroit continues
its tradition of sending over half its
Campaign revenues to Israel and
overseas.
"If we don't maintain that central-
ity, we're all going to suffer,"
Sherman said. "I would hope this
community is smart enough not to
do what other communities have
done and cut their allocations." ❑

7/24
1998

Detroit Jewish News 101