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Obituaries are updated regularly and archived on
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A Lifetime Of Creativity

HARRY KIRS BAUM

Staff Writer

A

d executive, musician, compos-
er, director, family man and
friend — Morton I. Zieve
turned his love of the performing arts
into a successful advertising career and
championed philanthropic pursuits that
helped the underdog.
Mr. Zieve, 78, of
Bloomfield Hills, died
Aug. 8, 2005, after a
lona- b battle with
prostate cancer.
As chairman of
Simons Michelson
Zieve Inc. Advertising
(SMZ) of Troy, he
worked at his ad
agency for 44 years,
even coming into work
regularly during his
most recent bout with
cancer.
"Mort was a most
devoted and protective
family man and very
involved with all of
Morton Zieve
us," said Mary Lou, his
wife of 47 years. "He
put his family first and made his busi-
ness family at least second, and he made
his community family an important
third."
Daughter Melissa agreed.
"He was funny and creative and very,
very bright; but the number one thing
for him was family," she said. "He wasn't
one of these people that worked to the
exclusion of his family. He really cher-
ished the family times."
Born in Detroit, Mr. Zieve graduated
from Detroit Central High School in
1944 and earned a theater degree at
Wayne State University in Detroit and a
master's degree in production from
Stanford University in California.
He worked at WXYZ-TV in Detroit
during the 1950s as a young innovator
during the glory days of live television,
producing and directing such shows as
Auntie Dee, Lunch with Soupy and The
Soupy Sales Show.
In 1961, after a successful television
career, he went into advertising and
eventually joined the firm his father-in-
law Leonard Simons founded with Larry
Michelson, the Simons Michelson

Company.
There, he composed several advertis-
ing musical pieces performed by such
stars as Louis Armstrong, Ethel
Merman, Rosemary Clooney and
Gordon and Sheila MacRae.
In 1977, he and his partner Jim
Michelson bought the Simons
Michelson Company, and it became
Simons Michelson Zieve Inc.
Advertising. "He was
a wonderful, con-
summate advertising
professional, and
clients loved him,"
said Michelson.
Mr. Zieve's work at
SMZ Advertising
won him numerous
national and interna-
tional honors includ-
ing the prestigious
Clio award.
When Jewish News
publisher Arthur
Horwitz arrived in
Detroit in 1986, Mr.
Zieve was writing
"Mort at the
Movies," a popular
JNfilm review col-
umn.
"Mort had a good eye for culture and
art," said Horwitz. 'Aside from his repu-
tation in the advertising community and
his reputation as a benefactor of the arts,
Mort was a talented, opinionated, bri
guy who touched lot of lives."
During his lifetime, Mr. Zieve direct-
ed theater in the San Francisco Bay area,
New York and Detroit. For the West
Bloomfield-based Jewish Ensemble
Theatre (JET) he directed sellout runs of
Crossing Delancey and Square Root of
Three.
Mr. Zieve received the Humanity in
Arts award from Wayne State University
for composing with lyricist Rudy
Simons the musical How Many Minutes
to Midnight. Simons, of Southfield, col-
laborated with Mr. Zieve for some 50
years.
"He was a good, loyal friend and an
outstandinc, writer of melodies," said
Simons. "There was a lot of music in
that man."
Mr. Zieve produced six shows, "one of

MORTON ZIEVE on page 98

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ebrew
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8/18

a

2005

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