This Week
Insight
Profiles
1•>:
Wo4 •
Newist Jewish Ambassador
Ann Arbor businessman will serve his country as ambassador to Slovakia.
BILL CARROLL
Special to the Jewish News
ith some advice from Doreen Hermelin and
a University of Michigan kippah (skullcap) as
a gift for the chief rabbi, Jewish businessman
Ron Weiser left to be U.S. ambassador to
Slovakia at the end of November.
Weiser, 56, of Ann Arbor was appointed by President
George W. Bush, confirmed by the U.S. Senate in mid-
November and sworn in by Secretary of State Colin Powell
Nov. 27 in Washington, D.C. Weiser is the first Michigan
resident to hold an ambassadorial position since Bingham
Farms businessman and philanthropist David Hermelin
served as ambassador to Norway in 1997-99.
Hermelin, who died a year ago, was a staunch Democrat
appointed by President Bill Clinton. Weiser is a rock-
ribbed Republican who made a name for himself in GOP
circles as a major fund-raiser.
Although Weiser's appointment has been in the offing
since last February, he scrambled in recent weeks to close
up his business affairs and learn his ambassadorial duties.
Slovakia is a landlocked, central European nation about
twice the size of New Hampshire, with a population of 5.4
million. The U.S. embassy is in the capital of Bratislava, an
area struggling to develop a modern market economy. In
1918, the Slovaks and the Czechs formed Czechoslovakia,
which went communist after World War II, then became
free again in 1989. The Czech Republic and Slovakia sepa-
rated peacefully in 1993.
.
A Different Sort OfJob
With an ambassador's salary of about $125,000 a year,
Weiser will find things a bit different as he oversees 115
employees versus the 650 employees of McKinley
Associates Inc., the Ann Arbor company he founded in
1969, and where he has been chairman and chief executive
officer. The property management and investment firm has
properties in 10 states, including shopping centers, office
buildings and apartments.
Clad in blue jeans and sandals (McKinley employees
always wear casual attire), Weiser last week sorted through
his belongings and took phone calls from well-wishers in
an office filled with mementos. A huge "Bush for
President" poster hung on the door. He reflected on his
business and political careers and his new job.
"After being George Bush's Michigan campaign finance
chairman in 2000, I wanted to continue to serve the presi-
dent in some way, either in Washington or as an ambassa-
dor, so this position worked out well," he said. "I realize
that security issues are involved, but there are always risks in
anything you do in life, and I want to serve my country."
Weiser grew up in St. Joseph near Lake Michigan — an
area with about 250 Jewish families. His parents, Robert
and Meta Weiser, operated Terry's Women's Clothing store.
12/7
2001
28
His father, a Polish immigrant, is deceased and his mother
lives in California. Ron spent one summer working in the
store, didn't like it, went to Ann Arbor to attend the
University of Michigan and never looked back. He
obtained a bachelor's degree, then tried law school and
worked on a master's degree, but completed neither.
"I got interested in the property maintenance business
and that consumed all of my attention," Weiser explained.
"My first job was taking care of a 15-unit apartment build-
ing here in 1968 and I loved it. A year later, I launched
McKinley and acquired more properties."
He won't admit he named the firm after William
McKinley, a solid Republican president in 1896. He says
he just wanted a name in the phone book other than his
own. "If people could find my name easily, I'd be getting
calls all night to come out and fix
their stopped-up toilets," he said.
Although Weiser came from a typ-
ical Democratic Jewish family, he
had Republican leanings as a young
man, reasoning he could be more
effective as a moderate Republican
than as a conservative Democrat. He
worked for a time on the GOP pres-
idential campaign of former Gov.
Lamar Alexander of Tennessee, then
burst onto the Michigan political
Ron Weiser
scene at the beckoning of Gov. John
Engler, who sought his campaign
support. He met Engler at Detroit's
London Chop House, of which Weiser was a part owner.
"The governor asked me to play a more active role in the
state Republican Party and wanted my help in his cam-
paign," said Weiser, "and that led to my position in the
2000 Bush campaign."
Under his direction, the GOP raised $3.2 million for
Bush, one of the highest statewide amounts in the nation.
Weiser himself has been a generous contributor to
Republican causes as well as many charitable organizations.
"Ron has served the state both on the Michigan State
Officers Compensation Commission and as a community
activist," said Engler. "I know he will serve with distinction
in this diplomatic role."
Dispelling the myth that "all Jewish people are
Democrats," Weiser said he had "absolutely no trouble
finding Republican Jews" and convincing them to con-
tribute to the state GOP.
Weiser said he was "involved" in last year's Florida presiden-
tial election situation when votes were counted and recounted,
but he declined to elaborate on exactly what he did on George
W. Bush's behalf. He has had very little contact with President
Bush since, conferring mainly with White House aides and
State Department officials on his appointment. He first was
offered the ambassador post in Romania, then the State
AMBASSADOR on page
29
Remember
When
From the pages of the Jewish News for
this week 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50
years ago.
1991
Goldie Adler, wife of the late Rabbi
Morris Adler of Congregation
Shaarey Zedek, died at age 83.
The former Congregation
Shaarey Zedek on Winder Street in
Detroit was destroyed by a fire.
The most violent rains in 30 years
caused severe flooding in Israel.
1981
The Palestine Liberation
Organization raised a Palestinian
flag in the lobby of the main United
Nations building in New York City.
Julianne Silverstein of Birming-
ham, a graduate student of interna-
tional business at the University of
Michigan, is studying at the
Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Spitzer of
Oak Park attended the bar mitzvah
of their first grandson in London,
England.
1W71
The Crown Hotel in Miami Beach,
Fla., re-opened on a strictly kosher
basis.
Larry Weinberg, senior at
Southfield-Lathrup High School,
was named to the Detroit News All-
Metro football squad and the Detroit
Free Press All-Suburban squad.
1961
Bob Oettinger of Detroit won first
prize in the junior division in the
poster contest in conjunction with
the Jewish Book Fair.
Kozin's Kosher restaurant, on
Seven Mile near Evergreen in
Detroit, opened.
1951
The Jewish Folk Chorus directed by
Henri Goldberg presented a concert
at the Detroit Institute of Arts.
Detroiter Louis Ellenbogen was
elected president of the Beth
Abraham Cemetery Association.
Dr. Albert E. Bernstein, a Detroit
physician, became chairman of the
membership campaign for United
Hebrew Schools.
—Compiled by Sy Manello,
editorial assistant