This Week
Naming Dispute
Prentis family contests name
of well-known cancer center.
ALAN AB RAMS
Special to the Jewish News
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T
he fight against cancer led
by a nationally recognized
research and treatment
institute in Detroit's
Medical Center could be overshad-
owed by a legal dispute over who has
naming rights to the entity.
The struggle pits a family with a long
legacy of philanthropy in health, educa-
tion and Detroit Jewry's communal life
against trustees of the Barbara Ann
Karmanos Cancer Institute, headquar-
tered near Detroit's Harper Hospital.
In one corner are the heirs of Meyer
L. Prentis, the longtime treasurer of
General Motors, who is widely credit-
ed with helping Alfred Sloan Jr. build
the automaker into the world's largest
corporation.
They appear to be on a collision
course with the cancer center's
trustees. Barbara Ann Karmanos
Cancer Institute has been the name
since July 1995, when Peter Karmanos
Jr., CEO of Compuware Corp. of
Farmington Hills, gave $15 million to
a system created by the merger of four
Detroit cancer agencies. The donation.
was made to honor his wife Barbara,
who died of breast cancer in 1989.
But the Prentis family wants the
institution renamed the Meyer L.
Prentis Comprehensive Cancer Center
of Metropolitan Detroit. The family
made their first donations in 1970,
following the death of Prentis from
cancer.
Naming Rights
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8/25
2000
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DOWNTOWN BIRMINGHAM
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A letter sent to trustees of the Karmanos
Institute this month by Mark I.
Silverman, a Birmingham physician and
attorney for the Meyer and Anna
Prentis Family Foundation, cites the
existence of a written contract signed by
Wayne State University, Michigan
Cancer Foundation and Comprehensive
Cancer Center of Metropolitan
Detroit Inc. Beginning in 1984.
Silverman says the Foundation gave
"substantial sums of money," totaling
$1.5 million, in exchange for the
Comprehensive Cancer Center being
renamed "and henceforth known" as
the Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive
Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit.
Silverman alleges that unbeknownst
to the trustees of the family founda-
tion, the Comprehensive Cancer
Center of Metropolitan Detroit Inc.
never changed its name.
On July 31, 1994, a merger
occurred between the Michigan Cancer
Foundation and the Comprehensive
Cancer Center of Metropolitan Detroit
Inc., with the resulting surviving entity
being named the Michigan Cancer
Foundation. Silverman asserts the orig-
inal contract was legally binding on the
merged entity.
"The Prentis Family Foundation
neither provided a release nor agreed
to any amendment of the original
binding contract. Therefore this and a
subsequent name change were breech-
es of the contract," wrote Silverman.
Silverman, signing his letter as "attor-
ney for Plaintiff," requests that the
Karmanos board meet and change the
corporation's name in accordance with
the contract. He states that "defendants,
including the Barbara Ann Karmanos
Cancer Institute, will be served with the
lawsuit documents soon," and sets a
response date of Thursday, Aug. 31.
What's In A Name?
In a letter to Karmanos board mem-
bers sent in response to Silverman's let-
ter, Dr. William P. Peters, president,
director and CEO of Karmanos
Institute, asked that "these matters not
be the subject of public discussion."
Said Dr. Peters, "We are also
pleased to include the name of the
Meyer L. Prentis Comprehensive
Cancer Center of Metropolitan
Detroit on all the letterheads of both
our research and clinical staff, research
and clinical brochures, and education-
al material and other places."
A review of the letterhead shows
the Karmanos name on top and the
Prentis name at the bottom, appearing
in small type.
The Prentis name does appear on
the cancer research building at 110 E.
Warren in Detroit and is used with the
National Cancer Institute, which has
recognized it as one of nation's top
cancer centers. That building was ded-
icated in May 1973 by then First Lady
Patricia Nixon.
Why has the Prentis family waited so
long to take action? Marvin Frenkel of
Huntington Woods, treasurer of the
foundation who is married to the former
Barbara Prentis, one of the three surviv-
ing daughters of Prentis, said: "Things
happened in a manner other than a
head-on confrontation. It was like bits
and drips. It took some time to have a
realization of what it was really about.
"We hope this can be settled quick-
ly to avoid any tarnish on the organi-
zation's fight against cancer or its busi-
ness practices. Our goal is to fight
cancer," he added.
A spokesperson at Compuware, on
behalf of Peter Karmanos, said he did
not think it appropriate to comment.
Prentis And GM
Meyer Prentis, who was born in 1886,
came to America from Lithuania as a
child. Arriving in Detroit in 1911, he
soon became chief accountant and
auditor for General Motors. He was
promoted to comptroller in 1916 and,
in 1919, became treasurer. He held
that position for 32 years until his
retirement in 1951.
Prentis was the founder and first sec-
retary-treasurer of the United
Foundation for Greater Detroit, now the
United Way for Southeastern Michigan.
An early leader in the Jewish Welfare
Federation, now the Jewish Federation
of Metropolitan Detroit, Prentis also
served as a trustee of Temple Beth El.
He is credited with having made possi-
ble the founding of the Albert Einstein
College of Medicine at Yeshiva
University in New York and the WSU
School of Business Administration.
In addition to the Cancer
Research Center, evidence of the
charitable endeavors of the Prentis
family can be found across metro
Detroit. These include:
• The Meyer and Anna Prentis
Building, which houses the School of
Business Administration at Wayne
State University in Detroit
• The Helen Prentis Lande Medical
Research building on the WSU campus
• The Prentis nursing wing in the
Marvin and Betty Danto
Family Health Care Center on the
Eugene and Marcia Applebaum Jewish
Community Campus in West
Bloomfield
• The Meyer and Anna Prentis
Library and Sunday School at Temple
Beth El in Bloomfield Township.
• The former Meyer L. Prentis Jewish
Home for the Aged, on Lahser Road in
Southfield, which formerly was operat-
ed by the Jewish Federation. ❑