Obituaries are updated regularly and archived on JN Online:
www.detroitjewishnews.com
A Hatred of Injustice
DAVID SACHS
n
Editorial Assistant
al Shapiro, unable to pay for
college during the
Depression, wound up riding
the rails westward as a hobo.
Starting in New York and traveling
across America, he witnessed the plight of
desperately poor people, especially African
Americans. In San Francisco, striking
longshoremen persuaded him not to take
a waterfront job — winning him over to
the union cause that would define the rest
of his life.
Harold L. Shapiro, 83, a labor activist
and civil rights champion in Detroit for
five decades and a political mentor of the
late Detroit Mayor Coleman Young, died
Sept. 21 of cancer. Survivors include his
wife, Esther Shapiro, long-time head of
the city's consumer affairs department.
Daughter Andrea Shapiro said, "One
of the most remarkable things about my
father, besides all of the struggles that he
led for workers, was his very, very strong
commitment early on to civil rights. He
inherited a very strong humanitarian ideal
from his parents. He had a visceral hatred
of bigotry and injustice."
Mr. Shapiro was instrumental in inte-
grating labor leadership after World War
II and helping African Americans reach
political power in Detroit.
"Hal was a white eagle who now has
flown into the sun," said former UAW
official Dave Moore, an African American.
In the late 1940s, Moore worked with Mr.
Shapiro to found the National Negro
ISADORE "CHINKY" ASH, 81, of Oak
Park, died Sept. 26.
He is survived by his wife, Rosalyn Ash;
son and daughter-in-law Steven and Vicky
Gaines of Livonia; daughter Susan
Tuttleman of Cincinatti; grandchildren
Grant Gaines, Logan Gaines, Ashlee
Tuttleman.
Contributions may be made to
Alzheimer's Association, 17220 W 12 Mile
Rd., Ste.100, Southfield, MI 48076.
Services and interment were at Hebrew
Memorial Park. Arrangements by Hebrew
Memorial Chapel.
FRANK E. BAGDADE, 93, of Farmington
Hills, died Sept. 20.
Mr. Bagdade was a self-employed
accountant and a graduate of the Detroit
College of Business. He was a member and
secretary-treasurer of the Louis Marshall
Lodge of B'nai B'rith and a member of the
Keiden Lodge. He was also a past member
of the Accountants Guild.
Mr. Bagdade is survived by his wife,
10/1
1999
138 Detroit Jewish News
Labor Council, which sought to integrate
the upper echelons of trade union leader-
ship. Their efforts helped get Coleman
Young elected the first black member of
the executive board of the Wayne County
CIO Council.
"Hal was a white man who was willing
to take positions regarding black folks that
were unpopular at the time," Moore said.
Mr. Shapiro later helped rally union
support for Young's election in the 1960s
as a delegate to the Michigan constitu-
tional convention and as a member of the
state Senate, then, in 1973, as Detroit's
first African American mayor.
Mr. Shapiro was born in the small,
upstate New York town of Jeffersonville.
He met his future wife in the early 1940s.
"By the time I met him in New York City,
he was working in a textile plant," Esther
Shapiro said. "Upon seeing the inequality
between men and women, he organized
the plant and led them on a strike."
In 1944, the Fur and Leather Workers
Union hired Mr. Shapiro to organize
locals in Detroit. "From then on, his
whole career was as an international labor
representative," she said.
Based in Detroit, Mr. Shapiro orga-
nized many diverse groups, including
meat cutters in the Midwest and cannery
workers in Texas border towns. He helped
African American women get pay equal to
white women locally at Frigid Foods.
The Shapiros were also in the forefront
for racial equality.
"My mother and father were founding
members of Michigan Friends of the
South in the 1960s," said daughter
Elyse Bagdade; son and daughter-in-law
Daniel and Sarita Bagdade of West
Bloomfield; grandsons Jeffrey and Michael
Bagdade; brother Benjamin Bagdade; sister
and brother-in-law Frances and Harry Eilen.
Mr. Bagdade was the dear brother of the
late Michael Bagdade.
Interment was at Clover Hill Park
Cemetery. Contributions may be made to a
charity of one's choice. Arrangements by Ira
Kaufman Chapel.
JOSEPH BERNSTEIN, 87, of Glencoe,
Ill., died Sept. 18.
Mr. Bernstein was an attorney, real estate
developer and philanthropist in the Chicago
area. One scholarship he created was at the
Feinberg Graduate School of the Weizmann
Institute of Science in Israel.
Mr. Bernstein is survived by his wife,
Emily Bernstein; daughters and sons-in-law
Judith Bernstein and William Pope of
Columbus, Ohio, Debra Bernstein and
Barry Siegel of Bloomfield Hills, Bonnie and
David Lasky of Northbrook, Ill., Sheila and
Harold Shapiro
Andrea. "They did a great deal of fund-
raising and providing legal aid during the
civil rights movement."
Since the 1940s, Mr. Shapiro also
helped raise over a half million dollars for
social justice grants through the Buck
Dinner Committee.
In the political arena, he helped Rev.
Charles Hill in his unsuccessful campaign
to become the first African American
elected to the Detroit City Council. He
assisted the congressional campaigns of
U.S. Rep. John Conyers and former
Congressman George Crockett.
After retiring from union activity, Mr.
Shapiro was appointed by Mayor Young
to the Detroit Police Commission. He
served from 1983-88 and 1993-95. Said
Esther Shapiro, "One of Hal's first actions
on the police commission was to draw up
guidelines for police conduct on picket
lines."
Elliot Gross of Pound Ridge, N.Y.; eight
grandchildren; sister Marcelle Orman of
Dallas.
Interment was in Chicago. Contributions
may be made to a charity of one's choice.
Placed at the request of the family by Ira
Kaufman Chapel.
SANFORD CHARLES BRODSKY, 57, of
West Bloomfield, died Sept. 23.
Mr. Brodsky was a radiopharmaceutical
salesman, consultant and territorial manager
for Du Pont Pharma. He was also a 32nd
Degree Mason and a member of the Society
for Nuclear Medicine.
Mr. Brodsky is survived by his wife,
Barbara Brodsky; son Martin Brodsky of
Pittsburgh; daughters and son-in-law Audrey
and Darren Goldberg of Virginia, Nicole
Brodsky; mother Becky Brodsky of
Southfield; brothers and sister-in-law Julius
Brodsky of Illinois and Bernard and Sharon
Brodsky of Arizonia.
He was the loving son of the late Morris
Brodsky.
During the McCarthy era, Mr.
Shapiro, as leader of the activist Fur and
Leather Workers Union, was called before
the House Un-American Activities
Committee. Afterward, he would expose
the bullying nature of the committee by
playing recordings of his testimony at
union rallies.
Remembering life in her family grow-
ing up, Andrea Shapiro recalled that
"there were always people in the house —
N,vorkers, artists, intellectuals, actors.
Anyone coming through Detroit who was
active in progressive and trade union caus-
es usually wound up at our house. It was
very exciting."
Son Mark Shapiro described his father as
very intelligent, deeply thoughtful and a
sometimes poet. A poem Mr. Shapiro wrote
to his wife was incorporated into the pro-
gram of his memorial service, held Sept. 26
in Detroit. Speaking of his yearning for
social justice as well as love, the poem said in
part: "Can a lover sing of love when hate is
high?" It concluded with the desire to "break
men's chains and set us free, to love and live
the way we hoped to be."
Mr. Shapiro is survived by his wife,
Esther; son and daughter-in-law, Mark
and Ann Shapiro; daughter Andrea
Shapiro; grandchildren Nick Shapiro,
Peter Shapiro, Matthew O'Connor and
Evelyn O'Connor; sisters Ruthe Gottfried
and Florence Meyer; and sister-in-law
Jeanne Guiser.
Contributions may be made to the
Metro Council of Newspaper Unions-Strike
Defense Fund, 3300 Book Building,
Detroit, MI 48226; ACLU Fund of
Michigan, 1249 Washington Blvd., Suite
2910, Detroit, MI 48226; or Henry Ford
Health System Hospice, 1 Ford Place, Suite
2A, Detroit, MI 48202. El
Interment was at Adat Shalom Memorial
Park. Contributions may be made to the
Karmanos Cancer Institute. Arrangements
by Ira Kaufman Chapel.
ELAINE CANVASSER, 77, of Farmington
Hills, died Sept. 26. Mrs. Canvasser was a
past president of the Hampton Chapter of
Women's American ORT, a member of
Hadassah and Congregation B'nai Moshe.
She is survived by her husband, Charles
Canvasser; sons and daughters-in-law
Richard and Phyllis Canvasser of West
Bloomfield, Dr. Bruce and Inez Canvasser of
Aurora, Ore.; daughter and son-in-law Sue
Ann Canvasser and Jeffrey Howard of
Bloomfield Hills; grandchildren Stacy
Ekelman and fiance Dale Goldberg, Meera
Canvasser and Katie Howard; mother Ruth
Albert; sister and brother-in-law Bernice and
Alfred Deutsch of West Bloomfield.
Interment at Clover Hill Park Cemetery.
Contributions may be made to a charity of
one's choice. Arrangements by Ira Kaufman
Chapel.