The West Bloomfield JCC
A Change At JCC
David Sorkin
Outgoing executive director guided Center through difficult times.
SHARON LUCKERMAN
Staff Writer
T
he Jewish Community Center of
Metropolitan Detroit is looking for a new
executive director.
The JCC announced Sept. 13 that David Sorkin
will leave the 78-year-old organization after eight years
for personal reasons once a replacement is hired.
Sorkin said he seeks to be closer to family on the East
Coast and in Philadelphia, where he is from. His
daughter and her family live in Brooklyn.
He said he is negotiating for a position with
other Jewish and non-Jewish agencies in the
not-for-profit realm.
The board is conducting a national search
for his successor, who will oversee a $10
million operating budget.
"The Center has been totally transformed under
David," said board president Hanan Lis. "He's over-
seen the first major renovation since this building [in
West Bloomfield] was opened in 1976. We've gone
from being tired, old and run-down to a state-of-the-
art facility ready to meet the demanding needs of
today's consumers and members.
"Our goal now is to leverage what David has
accomplished by continuing to expand our member-
ship, our market share and our programs and servic-
es.
As executive director over the past eight years,
Sorkin said that he took a struggling Center and
moved it in a positive direction.
"The Center is now in a period of taking advantage
of the opportunities in front of it," Sorkin said.
"Major fund-raising is over, buildings are built, excel-
lent and dedicated lay and other leadership are in
place. Now we can go toward the stabiliza-
tion of our mission and finances."
Lawrence Jackier, outgoing president of
the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Detroit, said the JCC has gone through
some very difficult times with the remodel-
ing of the D. Dan and Betty Kahn Building in West
Bloomfield and constructing its Fitness Center addi-
tion, which caused an uproar with a number of
groups, particularly racquetball players, he said.
When all the squash and racquetball courts were
closed in mid-2002 as part of the Fitness Center's
expansion, more than 100 players and their families
eventually gave up their memberships after several
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heated meetings where members protested the way the
Center handled the closing.
"No matter what you do, you're not going to please
everybody," said Jackier, who credits Sorkin with pro-
viding a steady hand during those times.
"The JCC is like a big boat that had to be turned
around and David, at the helm, needed to make some
difficult changes," said Patti Aaron, JCC board mem-
ber and board chair of the David B. Hermelin ORT
Resource Center, housed in the JCC.
"But he didn't do this alone. David is a team player
who took the heat for changes he was asked to make
by the board," she said, adding that these changes
were probably inevitable.
Many Accomplishments
Lis said Sorkin contributed to a number of important
changes at the JCC:
• During his tenure, the Jewish Federation raised
$35 million in a massive capital and endowment drive,
the Millennium Campaign for Detroit's Jewish Future,
which began in 1999, to renovate both the Kahn
Building in West Bloomfield and the Jimmy Prentis
Morris Building in Oak Park. These renovations were