This Week

MR. MICROSOFT

The Seeds Of Success

from page 7

Metro Detroit's Jewish
Assisted Living Community

"My dad is feeling great since coming to Elan Village!
The "heimishe" atmosphere allows him to be independent,
while at the same time feel safe and secure. He's made new
friends and the staff are caring and kind."

Ballmer's grandparents Rose and Sam Dworkin
with young Beatrice and Irving.

Tina Bassett, family member

Elan Village's monthly rate includes:

• 24 hour Personal Care Assistance

• Three Kosher Meals Daily

• Housekeeping and Personal Laundry
Services

• Social, Cultural and Educational
Programs Daily

• On-Site Licensed Nurse and Medical
Services

• Medication Management

Dementia & Respite care also available

Call today to schedule a tour

JANET ANTIN (248) 386-0303

26051 Lahser. Road • Southfield, Michigan 48034

Elan Village provides

v.,

A

Care that Changes with You

2/11

2000

10

Preferred Provider of the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit

parents' household was not Jewishly
observant. Yet Pollack says his friend
is very proud of his Jewish heritage.
Country Day headmaster Hansen
said Ballmer's parents did a "great
job" of instilling in him morals, ethics
and concern for others.
In the mid - 1960s, the Ballmer
family lived for three years in
Brussels, Belgium, while Fred was on
assignment for Ford. Steve, then
about 8-10 years old, became fluent
in French and, according to Olga
Dworkin, benefited from the
European-style schooling there.
Upon their return, the Ballmers
lived in Farmington Hills while Steve
attended Country Day. He excelled in
math and earned a perfect 800 on the
math portion of his SAT college
entrance exam.
"His mother took him to every
math competition she could find for
him," said Olga Dworkin. "When he
was done at Country Day for the day,
she would have hint enrolled at
Lawrence Tech [University] and he'd
be going to math classes there.
"Anything she heard or saw that
had to do with math that she felt that

Steve might benefit from, she would
see that he got to it. And that's how
he kept winning these math competi-
tions and ended up getting his schol-
arship to Harvard."
Teacher Hansen recalled: "I think
one of the outstanding characteristics
of Steve that's so unusual is his intellec-
tual energy. He always had that. There
are all kinds of smart people in the
world. But they don't have his energy.
"Steve's probably the smartest kid
I've ever met," Hansen added. "There
was never a math problem that he
couldn't solve. One of my teaching
techniques was having kids put prob-
lems on the board and then explain
them. It was always fun to have Steve
up there because he was always so
animated and energetic and passion-
ate about what he was doing.

Unbounded Loyalty

"People at Microspft view him as
cheerleader for the company," said
Hansen. "It's only people who have
known Steve for most of his life who
realize that that's Steve. It's not some-
thing that's orchestrated. That's really
part of his makeup."

