`Hero' Kept On Giving
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A
s a boy in pre-war Poland,
Louis Kay was nurtured by
pious parents who instilled in
him lessons of tzedaka. Before
Shabbat dinner, for instance, they would
send him out to deliver home-cooked
meals to the poor.
Being enslaved in concentration camps
during the Holocaust exposed him to the
other side of the equation — how it felt
to be without help or hope.
As the sole survivor of a 200-member
family, Louis Kay settled in Detroit and
in 1969 built a marble Holocaust memor-
ial at Hebrew Memorial Park to his slain
parents, relatives and neighbors.
He also lived his life as an ongoing
memorial to his parents' lessons of caring
for others. For years he would pick up
bread at 5 a.m. and deliver it to the
Capuchin soup kitchen. He also aided fel-
low survivors, his employees and Jewish
and civic organizations.
Mr. Kay was named a "Mitzvah Hero"
by the Jewish News in 1989. "I am happy
to help people. I still remember what it
was like for me" (during the Holocaust),
he said at the time.
Mr. Kay, of Farmington Hills, died
July 11 at age 73. "He always had an
open hand," said Rabbi A. Irving
Schnipper, rabbi emeritus of
Congregation Beth Abraham Hillel
Moses, who eulogized him Monday at
Hebrew Memorial Chapel. "He was there
whenever anyone needed him."
"My father had a second job — tzeda-
ka," said Mark Kay. 'And he worked at it
full-time, too."
Louis Kay came to Detroit in 1949.
He soon found work and later opened
Louis Kay Enterprises, a recycling firm in
Detroit.
He would always lend a helping hand
to his employees, paying for schooling,
surgeries and family funerals. He would
even hire convicts who would not other-
wise qualify for parole.
"He was also very caring for the wel-
EDNA ARNKOFF, 77, of Southfield,
IN MEMORY OF
RABBI RICHARD C. HERTZ
UDM TEACHER AND SCHOLAR
WE ARE GRATEFUL FOR HIS 30 YEARS WITH US.
OF DETROIT
MERCY
7/16
1999
150 Detroit Jewish News
died July 7.
She is survived by her brother,
George Miller of Van Nuys, Calif.; sis-
ters-in-law and brothers-in-law Mary
and George Stutz, Bernice and Morris
Arnkoff, Rebecca Freedman.
Mrs. Arnkoff was the beloved wife
of the late Isadore Arnkoff.
Graveside services at Beth Tefilo
Emanuel Cemetery. Contributions may
be made to a charity of one's choice.
Arrangements by Dorfman Funeral
Direction.
fare of his
fellow sur-
vivors," said
Rabbi
Charles
Rosenzweig,
director of
the
Holocaust
Memorial
Louis Kay
Center in
West
Bloomfield. "He would go all out to help
and seek others to help out too."
Mr. Kay was a charter member of
Congregation Beth Shalom, a founding
member of B'nai B'rith Einstein Lodge
and Shaarit Haplayta survivors organiza-
tion. He was an original supporter of the
Holocaust Memorial Center and a mem-
ber of the Knights of Pythias.
He was honored for his support by
Israel Bonds, the Jewish National Fund,
the B'nai Brith Foundation, the City of
Hope, the Holocaust Memorial Center
and the city of Detroit. -
After the war, Mr. Kay returned to his
home village of Wloszczowa, Poland, to
search for family, but found only pho-
tographs that were saved by a teenaged
neighbor. He cherished those pho-
tographs, the only remnants of his family,
placing copies on the memorial he built
along with the names of all the family and
friends he could remember, said his son,
Victor. He carried the pictures of his fam-
ily in his wallet.
Mr. Kay is survived by his wife of 46
years, Gladys Kay; sons and daughters-in-
law Dr. -Marc and Jacqueline Kay of
Paradise Valley, Ariz., Dr. Victor and
Hedva Kay of Jerusalem, Stuart and
Renee Kay of West Bloomfield; sister-in-
law Eileen Silverman; grandchildren
Rachel Kay, Joshua Kay, Tamar Kay,
Yonatan Kay, Assaf Kay, Sammy Kay,
Lexie Kay, Lainie Camen; Abbee Camen.
Contributions may be made to Yad
Ezra, 26641 Harding, Oak Park, MI
48237. Interment at Hebrew Memorial
Park. ❑
MARY BEEN, 82, of Farmington
Hills, died July 9.
She is survived by her son and
daughter-in-law, Kenneth and Claudia
Been of Farmington Hills; daughters
and sons-in-law Phyliss and Dr.
Donald Rochen of West Bloomfield,
Barbara and Abe Weberman of
Farmington Hills; sisters and brothers-
in-law Yetta Zager of West Bloomfield,
Natalie and Irving Baker of West
Bloomfield, Flora and Gerald Sachs of
Novi; grandchildren Steve Rochen,
Doug Rochen, Debbie Rochen, Andy