Big Brother

many, including Executive Editor Susan
Rosiek.
Associate Editor
"Tedd was the articulate one in the
family — the great communicator," said
edd Schneider spent all 44
his sister Judith at his funeral Jan. 17.
years of his life crafting
"He had a wonderful sense of timing"
words and being a big
and,
as children, "you couldn't scold
brother.
him when you were laughing
He was an award-win-
so hard."
ning community editor at
She said her husband
the Observer & Eccentric
always commented that
Newspapers and an
Tedd was such a good writer
award-winning staff writer
that "even if you totally dis-
at the Jewish News in the
agreed with him, you had to
early 1980s. He was also
read what he wrote."
an award-winning hus-
Despite his many roles,
band and father.
Mr. Schneider always had
Mr. Schneider, of
time for the Jewish commu-
Farmington Hills, died
nity. "He wasn't religious,"
Jan. 14, 2003, after a
Judith
said, "but he was
three-month battle with
always a proponent of Israel
esophageal and liver can-
and Jewish culture."
cer.
Tedd Schnei der
Last summer, when it was
Within his family, he
discovered that Mr.
was big brother to siblings
Schneider had kidney prob-
David and Ruth Ann ---
and, on occasion, he even tried to be big lems, Judith donated one of hers to her
brother.
brother to older sister, Judith. He also
served as a Big Brother for Jewish
Family Service in the 1980s and held
Newspaper Career
the same role in the early 1980s as
Younger brother Dr. David Schneider
supervisor of Wayne State University
quoted their mother at the funeral: "She
Hillel's suburban Hillel House at 10
told me the other day that Tedd actually
Mile and Church in Oak Park.
talked in full sentences before he could
He continued the big brother role at
walk."
the Observer & Eccentric, according to
Those early full sentences foreshad-
his colleagues. "Warmth," "humor" and
owed his work on the student newspa-
"professionalism" were mentioned by

ALAN HITSKY

T

Detroit's Noah'

lif

SHELLI LIEBMAN DORFMAN

Staff-Writer

e always had change in his
pockets," said Rabbi David
Nelson of'his colleague and
friend, Rabbi Noah Gamze,
who died Jan. 20, 2003, at age 78 of car-
diac arrest.
"If there were saints in Judaism, he
would be the saint of Detroit," said
Louis Nino of Detroit, a longtime mem-
ber of the Isaac Agree Downtown
Synagogue where Rabbi Gamze served
for nearly 40 years.
'Anyone he saw on the street who was
needy, he would give a dollar. He never

refused anyone — whether they needed
a place to rest or wanted to borrow a
book."
Rabbi Nelson of Congregation Beth
Shalom in Oak Park said, "He had an
ongoing tab at the restaurant next to his
synagogue where he sent anyone who
needed a meal."
Rabbi Gamze was a fixture in the
downtown neighborhood of his syna-
gogue, Nino said. "Walking to the mail-
box, or in the bank, everybody knew
him."
Since the rabbi's move to Rhode Island
following his 2001 retirement, Nino has
continued some of the rabbi's good
deeds for him. "When someone knocks

per at Oak Park High School and at
Wayne State University's South End as a
sports reporter. He joined the Jewish
News in 1979 as an editorial assistant
and wrote one of the first major local
feature stories after the Slomovitz family
sold the newspaper in 1983.
Tedd Schneider's cover story, on the
effects of Interstate 696 on Oak Park
and Southfield and the impact the
Orthodox community and city officials
had on building the freeway, won a
third-place prize for feature writing from
the American Jewish Press Association.
In late 1985, Adat Shalom Synagogue
member Len Poger, Garden City editor
for the Observer & Eccentric, hired Mr.
Schneider as a reporter. "He was such a
well-read person," Poger recalled. "He
had lots of different interests and his
writing was always very comprehensive,
balanced and accurate ... Tedd was very
bright and confident, but not bragging.
He had a presence wherever he went."
His presence led to friendships in all
walks of life. The Rev. Eric Moore, pas-
tor of the Canton Community Church
in Plymouth, spoke at Mr. Schneider's
funeral about how a disagreement over a
prayer breakfast brought Mr. Schneider
and Rev. Moore together.
"Tedd thought the event should be
broader," said Rev. Moore, who met
with him and explained his deep reli-
gious faith. "He said, 'I honor you for
that.'
"Tedd had strong moral values. A
friend said of him, 'He was a true, gen-
tle man.' It came through in his writing
and in how he treated people."
Rev. Moore said Mr. Schneider fought
for a Martin Luther King Day com-

memoration in Canton. "He wrote
about the justice of it, and he helped to
make it happen."
During Mr. Schneider's final weeks,
Rev. Moore visited him in the hospital.
At one point, he asked Mr. Schneider
what was the saddest part for him. "He
said, 'I waited to get married and I wait-
ed to have children. I'm sad that I won't
be able to see some of [8-year-old
daughter] Sarah's growing up.'"
Poger also spoke of Mr. Schneider's
commitment to his family. "He truly.
loved his family, [wife] Lori and Sarah.
He was such a proud father, and he was
very much at home with them."
Howard Schneider concluded the
funeral service last week by speaking
briefly about his son. His final tribute:
"Naphtali Zvi — zay geitz a mentsch.
Tedd Isaac — there goes a man."
Mr. Schneider is survived by his wife,
Lori; daughter, Sarah; parents, Howard
and Frances of Oak Park; brother and
sister-in-law, Dr. David and Dahlia
Ronen Schneider of Vernon Hills, Ill.;
sisters and brothers-in-law, Judith and
Paul Madarasz of Tucson, Ariz., Ruth
Ann and Michael Williams of
Southfield; nieces and nephews, Hope
and Isabella Schneider, Max and
Brianna Hamilton, Kevin and Ilyssa
Beltzman.
Contributions may be made to the
Kidney Foundation, 2350 S. Huron
Parkway, Ann Arbor, MI 48104; or
Karmanos Cancer Institute, 24601
Northwestern Hwy., Southfield, MI
48075.
Interment was at Clover Hill Park
Cemetery. Arrangements by Hebrew
Memorial Chapel. ❑

bachelor's degree from the
on the door of the syna-
University of Chicago, a
gogue and needs 50 cents
master's degree from the
for a cup of coffee, I give it
Jewish Theological Seminary
to him, just like the rabbi
of America in New York
would do."
City and was ordained in
During his years with the
1951 from JTS Rabbinical
synagogue, Rabbi Gamze
School in New York.
also served as part-time
After his father, Rabbi
chaplain at Wayne County
Elias Gamze, died, he took
General Hospital (Eloise)
over his pulpit at the
and later at Northville
Orthodox Loop Synagogue
Psychiatric Hospital. In
in Chicago. Later, he was
addition to congregational
rabbi at the Conservative
rabbinic duties, including
Rabbi Noah Gamze
Synagogue in Tacoma,
leading services and visiting
Wash., and then worked as a
hospital patients, he was
librarian at Hebrew
also the one at the syna-
gogue who typically answered the phone, Technological College in Illinois, where
his duties included teaching bar mitzvah
mailed yahrtzeit notices and dealt with
lessons.
building repairs.
Born in Kovno, Lithuania, Rabbi
Gamze grew up in Chicago, received a
DETROIT'S 'NOAH' on page 118

1/24

2003

117