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Delivering On His Promise
DAVID SACHS
Southfield.
Copy Editor
Enterprises And Inventions
T
wo years ago, before being
overwhelmed by his strug-
gle with Alzheimer's dis-
ease, entrepreneur and
inventor Alvin Wasserman wrote a
poem reflecting on his illustrious life.
His thoughts:
"A person asks, 'What is life?' I
replied without hesitation, 'A race
through time, in search of love.
As this unbridled entrepreneur
perceived it, love was broader than
the kindness he bestowed upon his
family and friends. It meant using his
business genius for the betterment of
the society, and it inspired the enter-
prises he built and the creative inven-
tions he dabbled in.
Mr. Wasserman, of Bloomfield
Hills, died March 9 at age 80. A
founder of 24 businesses and a holder
of eight patents, his intense energy
was driven by a need to find a way to
make things easier for people, said his
son, Rodger.
Mr. Wasserman's genius at break-
ing complex business systems down
to the tiniest elements inspired Allied
Delivery Systems, a package delivery
firm he founded in 1938, soon after
graduating Central High School in
Detroit. His first delivery vehicle was
a $25 used hearse.
He volunteered to serve in the
Navy after Pearl Harbor, returning in
1945 to grow his business into the
model for package delivery. Under 48
years of his ownership, it became an
institution in Southeastern Michigan.
When he sold the business in 1986, it
had 150 trucks and 3,000 local cus-
tomers, handling 20,000 packages a
day.
Mr. Wasserman looked out for the
welfare of his employees by develop-
ing roller conveyers to move the
packages and by heating his ware-
house loading docks in winter. "The
company was world famous," said
Rodger.
Mr. Wasserman did not attend col-
lege until age 60, when he graduated
a three-year program for business
leaders at Harvard University. "It was
his proudest achievement," said
Rodger. As a businessman, he lec-
tured at University of Michigan in
Ann Arbor and Lawrence
Technological University in
' "
Other of Mr. Wasserman's ventures
included selling small airplanes to pilots
after the war, selling garage doors during
a building boom, and selling specialty
industrial metal products. He designed
the baggage handling system at Schiphol
Airport in Amsterdam and worked for
McKinsey & Co., a pre-eminent man-
agement-consulting firm.
"He had an absolute gift for antici-
pating market need," said Rodger. "He
was always coming up with inventions."
About 40 years ago, he invented
marketed one of the first industrial
robots, one that could pick up a piece of
metal and run it through a pattern in a
punch press. In 1963, he marketed an
early telephone answering machine. In
1968, he already had a primitive person-
al computer in his home and, in 1994,
althoLigh in the early stages of
Alzheimer's, he developed "Easy PL," a
simplified DOS-based programmable
language. Although these projects were
never successfully- marketed, they pro-
vided an outlet for his creative and com-
petitive juices.
"He was a complex and really
remarkable intellect," said son Gary "He
was mentally fast, verbally fast, physical-
ly quick, totally intense and passionate
about everything that he did. He was a
ball of fire."
Pingpong Champion
His sense of competition extended to
athletics. He was a nationally ranked
pingpong player from his youth into his
50s and excelled as well at golf and ten-
nis. "He was known as either Al, the
pingpong player' or
the genius,'"
said Rodger. His competitiveness and
finely honed people-instincts made him
a successful card player.
Mr. Wasserman was always available
to help a friend in need, said Roger, pro-
viding that the person would return the
favor not to him, but to another. He
mentored young entrepreneurs though
the SCORE program in Detroit and
wrote an advice column in the business
pages of the Detroit Free Press. In his lat-
ter years he worked with Oakland
County Probate Court Judge Eugene
Moore and his staff to create a video to
explain the probate court system to chil-
dren caught in the process.
Up until two years ago, even while
afflicted with Alzheimer's, he still was
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Alvin
circa 1970
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ammomsemiaammomileamise - st-
circa 1970
GLATT KOSHER
able to serve as a business consultant to
Cafe Domain, a Royal Oak cyber cafe.
"His intellectual strength still was there,"
said Gary. "They were thrilled to have
him."
At Temple Israel in West Bloomfield,
he established the outdoor Wasserman
Pavilion. He also funded the social hall
for the former Congregation Beth
Achim in Southfield, the exhibition hall
at the Cranbrook Science Institute in
Bloomfield Hills and the box-level
promenade at the Michigan Opera
Theatre in Detroit. He was named the
1979 man of the year of the Reform
Jewish Appeal.
In addition, he was a supporter of
Yeshiva Beth Yehudah and enjoyed regu-
lar give-and-take on religion and philos-
ophy with its former executive vice pres-
ident, the late Rabbi Max
Wohlgelernter.
"My dad was a very emotional man,
totally devoted to his family and the
people who needed him," Gary said.
Alvin Wasserman is survived by his
wife of 58 years, Edith L. Wasserman;
sons and daughters-in-law Rodger and
Loree Wasserman of Birmingham, Gary
and Rita Wasserman of Birmingham;
daughter and son-in-law Linda
Wasserman and Joseph Aviv of
Birmingham; grandchildren Amy and
Ted Parfet, Nick Wasserman, Zachary
Wasserman, Laura Wasserman, Imke
Wasserman, Stephanie Etkin, Elizabeth
Aviv, Sari Aviv and Rachel Aviv; brother
and sister-in-law Sidney and Harriet
Wasserman of Southfield.
Mr. Wasserman was the loving son
of the late Max and the late Rose
Wasserman; dear brother of the late
Sam Wasserman. Interment was at
Clover Hill Park Cemetery.
Contributions may be made to the
Alzheimer's Association, Hospice of
Michigan and the Jewish Hospice and
Chaplaincy Network. Arrangements
by Ira Kaufman Chapel. ❑
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