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February 11, 2000 - Image 14

Resource type:
Text
Publication:
The Detroit Jewish News, 2000-02-11

Disclaimer: Computer generated plain text may have errors. Read more about this.

It's our biggest sale of the season!
You'll save as much as

OFF ORIGINAL PRICES
by taking an extra 40% to 50% off
already-reduced prices
on merchandise throughout the store.

GOING ON NOW

The Seeds Of Success

MR. MICROSOFT

from page

12

Hills Country Club in Farmington
Hills for $2 an hour, according to his
uncle. He's "a pretty good golfer," he
added.
Ballmer remains a Detroit Pistons
basketball fan. He became friends with
Isiah Thomas, a Country Day parent,
and once flew into Detroit to watch
the Pistons play the Portland
Trailblazers, a team owned by
Microsoft co-founder Allen.
Another Detroit Jewish connection
to Ballmer is the late actress Gilda
Radner, whose grandfather is the
brother of Balimer's grandfather Sam
Dworkin. According to Irving
Dworkin, second cousins Ballmer and
Radner did not know each other when
both lived in Detroit, but did meet
once by chance at Studio 54 nightclub
in New York City.

Mothers Honored

Some 700 miles east of Detroit is
Cambridge, Mass., home of Harvard
University and the incubator of the
Microsoft miracle. Twenty years later,
successful beyond belief, Gates and
Ballmer wanted to honor the school
where it all started.
Gates' mother, Mary Maxwell
Gates, like Ballmer's mother, played an
essential supporting role in her son's
success. She died in 1994, three years
before Beatrice Dworkin Ballmer. In
1996, the two wildly successful men,
perhaps the zenith of any mother's



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dream, donated a total $25 million to
Harvard to build a building of engi-
neering and applied sciences. They
named it after their mothers' maiden
names, Maxwell and Dworkin.
The gift will allow the college to
expand its computer science and elec-
trical engineering programs.
The Maxwell Dworkin building was
dedicated Oct. 12, 1999, and Ballmer
attended with his friend's father,
William H. Gates. The Dworkin fami-
ly from Detroit also came, including
Iry and Olga, their daughter and son-
in-law Debra and Richard Partrich of
Bloomfield Hills and Irv's cousins,
Ethel Wasser of Southfield and Sarah
Kaminsky of Oak Park.
Ballmer credits his mother's effort
and support for his success. •In a state-
ment prepared for the dedication, he
said:
"My mom had a great curiosity
about the world and loved reading and
acquiring knowledge. She prided her-
self on her independence and ability to
figure things out. She had high expec-
tations for us but was careful to always
tell us that we should just do our best."
Now at the helm of Microsoft,
Ballmer's Detroit and Jewish roots
will always be there for him to call
upon. And the Dworkin name will
live on at Harvard, helping spawn
perhaps the next "wildly enthusiastic"
incarnations of Bill Gates, Paul Allen
and Steve Ballmer.



The Dworkin family on the day of the Maxwell Dworkin Building dedication:
Irving and Olga Dworkin of Farmington Hills; Richard and Debra Partrich of
Bloomfield Hills; Steven and Connie Ballmer of Bellevue, Wash.; Ethel Wasser of
Southfield; and Sarah Kaminsky of Oak Park.
, Tow

O



,



0

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as

0

THE SOMERSET COLLECTION 248.643.3300

Take 30% to 75% off original prices on furs; no other reductions apply. Furs
not in all stores, subject to prior sale, labeled to show country of origin, and may include prior
season's merchandise. Selected merchandise only. Interim markdowns may have been taken. No adjustments
for prior sales. Sale at Masscichusetts, Illinois, Washington, D.C., Michigan, Colorado, Minnesota,
Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Virginia, and Missouri stores only. Merchandise at
The Galleries of Neiman Marcus stores and Last Call s Clearance Center stores not included.

Sale ends February 14.

Since
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