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Good As Gold

From the Jewish News pages this week
10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60 years ago.

At 100, athlete-volunteer Julius Spielberg gives
meaning to the phrase 'active senior."

RONELLE GRIER
Special to the Jewish News

onsidering all the finish lines
Julius Spielberg has crossed,
reaching his 100th birthday was
as exhilarating as winning any
of the 29 gold medals that decorate his -
West Bloomfield home.
The significant milestone was commem-
orated at a party hosted by Spielberg's
daughter, Norma Gorosh, at the Jewish
Community Center in West Bloomfield.
Two hundred of his closest family mem-
bers and friends came to honOr him for a
century of noteworthy accomplishments.
Spielberg is a successful pharmacist and
builder, an athlete, a caring community
volunteer, a devoted family man and loyal
friend.
Of his many accomplishments,
Spielberg is proudest of his family:
Norma, her five sons and their children.
He feels. blessed to have all of them in
such close proximity.
His grandsons, - three of them mar-
ried, are Bruce (Tammy) Gorosh, Rick
Gorosh, Alan (Rhona) Gorosh and Neil
(Marla) Gorosh, all of West Bloomfield, and
Jeff Gorosh of Birmingham. Spielberg also
has eight great-grandchildren.
"We lost our father when we were
teenagers; our grandfather was the patriarch
of our family," said Jeff Gorosh. "He runs
the show."
Spielberg was born in the Russian city of
Rovne in 1902, and came to the Detroit
area in his late teens in 1921. Four years
later, he graduated from the Detroit
College of Pharmacy.
After working as an apprentice for a few
years, he opened his own store, Spiel
Drugs, on Fenkell in Detroit.
In 1948, Spielberg made retailing news
with the opening of Wrigley Drugs, the
first self-serve drugstore in the Midwest. It
was on West Seven Mile Road, near the
popular Darby's restaurant.
He later went into the building business,
specializing in commercial buildings and
shopping centers.
Shortly after becoming a pharmacist,
Spielberg met and married the former Anna
Grenadier, with whom he spent the next 72

A 1934 photo of Anna and Julius
Spielberg inside Spiel Drugs on
Fenkell in Detroit.

Julius Spielberg recently won a gold
medal at the Michigan Senior
Olympics meet in Midland.

years, until her death in 1998.
"They were very old-school, very
traditional," said Jeff Gorosh. "They
spoke to each other every day of
their lives."
Julius' "health kick" began when
he was in his 70s, after vi s iting the
Pritikin Clinic in Florida. He began
a lifestyle of healthful eating and
regular exercise.
"He was attracted to Pritikin
because their advertisements said
they would help people live to be
100 years old," Norma Gorosh said.
Spielberg began a daily walking
program. Soon, he was competing
in various racewalking events locally,
then nationally and internationally.
Traveling to Gateshead, England, he
finished second in a World Masters'
Senior Olympics competition. To
date, he holds the national senior
record for the 5,000-meter racewalk.
Spielberg's most recent race was
last month in Midland, where he
took the gold medal for the 1,500-
meter racewalk in a Michigan Senior
Olympics meet. His time was 28:06.
When asked if he's planning to
compete in the racewalking compe-
tition at the National Senior
Olympics next year in Virginia,
Spielberg said, "If I'm around, I'll be
there."
"His attitude is unreal," said his
daughter. "That's what keeps him
going."
Spielberg usually can be found on
the track at the Jewish Community
Center in West Bloomfield, where
he still walks three miles every day.
"It's appropriate to have his party
here, in the place where he's proba-
bly logged more miles than anyone
else," said Rick Gorosh.
When asked what factors have
contributed to his longevity,
Spielberg replied, "Simple things.
First, you need the right genes. After
that, you have to eat the right roods,
and you have to exercise religiously."
"My grandfather is a truly ageless

GOOD As GOLD on page 34

1992
Tel Aviv University launches a pro-
gram in Yiddish teacher education.
For the fourth time this month,
vandals desecrate the Jewish ceme-
tery at Mar del Plata, about 250
miles south of Buenos Aires.

Temple Beth El in Bloomfield
Township installs Rabbi Dannel I.
Schwartz; Rabbi Richard C. Hertz
becomes rabbi emeritus.
President Ronald Reagan presents
Philip Habib with a medal of free-
dom for his efforts in the Middle
East.
Dutch officials ban sales of the
book Mein Kampf

1912

The West German government
announces it will grant $1 million to
relatives of the 11 Israelis killed at the
Munich Olympics.
Cantor Norman Rose, a native of
Rochester, N.Y., becomes the first
cantor at Temple Emanu-El in Oak
Park.
Golda Meir presents the Prime
Minister's Medal to Rabbi Leon Fram
of Temple Israel, Detroit.

1 962

Chicago rabbis sanction abortion
when the mother's life is endangered.
Jewish military chaplains mark
their 100th anniversary.
Hillel Day School begins its fifth
year in new quarters located at the
Jewish Center on 10 Mile Road in
Oak Park.

1002,

Israel and Germany sign a historic
pact in Luxembourg, granting $822
million to Israel and Jewish victims of
Nazism.

1942
Ten percent of the total male popula-
tion of Detroit's Young Israel is now
engaged in active military service.
Detroiter Morton A. Bauman is
named chaplain with the U.S.
Forces.

— Compiled by Holly Teasdle,
archivist, the Leo M. Franklin
Archives, Temple Beth El

9/13
2002

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