Stanley Frankel
Incomparable Stanley Frankel honored with Butzel Award.
buying raw land for malls, apartments, golf courses
and industrial property in southeastern Michigan.
Yet, his ninth-floor office lacks a computer. "I gave
it to my father; I'm completely computer illiterate,"
he bragged.
When he asked his secretary, Sandy, about his com-
puter skills, she could only break into laughter.
"When I want to talk to somebody, I'll call them
on the phone and talk to them," he said.
He disdains technology, doesn't own a VCR and
Jewish community both here and in Israel.
He's been a member of Federation's Board of
Governors since 1969, and currently serves as chair of
all Stanley Frankel old school. Call him a
the Joint Fiscal Oversight Council, where he attends
Luddite, a bow-tie wearing, meeting-averse
regular meetings.
character, and you wouldn't come close to fig-
"I go to meetings where decisions are made as
uring him out.
opposed to where speeches are given," he said. "The
Because Stanley Frankel — this year's recipient of
issues in the Jewish community are the same: How do
the Fred M. Butzel Award, Detroit Jewish communi-
we deal with the elderly? How do we deal with educa-
ty's highest honor — is impossible to categorize.
tion? There's always a crisis. We're just in a different
Some former Butzel awardees possess
environment," he said.
reams of information, including curricula
"You can say, 'I was at the meeting 20
vitae, past awards and accomplishments, but
years ago and I heard the same speech.'
not Frankel.
"When we had an emergency we were
The 63-year-old developer shuns the spot-
able to handle it," he said. "We always
light and doesn't bother with the small stuff.
rule by consensus. You argue your posi-
And he has a special aversion to "meet-
tion and, if you lose the day, you lose the
ings."
day, and that's the way it is. And I think
"I don't think Stanley has attended a
it's one of our attributes."
Federation meeting in the last 10 years,"
He has always been involved in
joked Jewish Federation of Metropolitan
Federation's Annual Campaign and has
Detroit chief executive officer Robert
always solicited.
Aronson. "But whenever I need advice, I
He has accompanied hundreds of
always call him and he always makes the
Detroiters on Israel missions. He served as
time. Stanley is a leader without being a vis-
the leader of Federation's first "Koach
ible leader."
Detroit" Mission to Israel and Eastern
Sure, he looks like the ultimate power
Europe in 1985.
broker: monogrammed shirt, gold cufflinks,
He kvells over the Jean and Samuel
royal-looking beard and that power bow tie. Above: Stanley Frankel in Jerusalem's Old City, circa 1972.
Frankel Traditional School in Jerusalem,
Top: Stanley Frankel in his Troy office brandishing one of his most powe
But how many of "those types" consider
named after his parents. "It's the first day
tools.
shoveling horse manure at 7 a.m. therapeu-
school with a dual curriculum," said
tic?
Frankel. "Before then, you either went to
has no use for those new thermostats. "I don't need to
How many of them have a lithograph of a rebbe
the yeshivah, which has no secular curriculum, or you
program the temperature for the next 48 years," he
and a Torah portion on the wall behind their desk
went to public school, which had no Judaic curricu-
said. "My kids call me Neanderthal and my son's in
and the latest issue of the Thoroughbred Times on the
lum.
credenza?
the computer business.
"We started with one school in a Quonset hut," he
"Everybody sits in their little space or comes home
He owns eight horses on his farm in Metamora.
said. "We now have five schools in the Jerusalem area,
With his father, Sam Frankel, Stanley developed the and sits in their little space and spends half the day
and about 90 programs in the whole country with
erasing information they didn't want to get," he said.
Somerset Collection, the Somerset Inn and the build-
about 25,000 students."
He prides himself on the business he has accom-
ing that houses Frankel and Associates on Big Beaver
He also helped build the University of Michigan
Road in Troy.
plished using a "No. 3 pencil with a pink cap eraser."
Hillel in Ann Arbor, was past chairman of its board of
That pencil and his sharp mind have helped the
They do real estate development and management,
trustees and received the 2000 Distinguished Alumni
HARRY KIRS BAUM
Staff Writer
C
10/ 1
2004
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