Metro

Pizzazz! from page 11

"I'm a perfectionist and I have
a sincere love for elderly people;
I want to make sure they're
taken care of properly."

- Carol Rosenberg

could really belt out 'Everything's Coming
Up Roses':' she smiles. "I also played the
Save-A-Soul Mission general in Guys and
Dolls and the slightly meshuggene mother
in Our Town. It was a lot different from
my teaching jobs at Mumford and in the
Berkley schools."

Resident Anne Feldman of West Bloomfield with Carol Rosenberg

The Serious Side

"When I first met her 13 years ago, she
introduced herself by saying: 'Hello, I'm
Carol Rosenberg, and I'm Jewish' — as if
there was any doubt:' recalled Margot Paar
of Livonia, Rosenberg's predecessor as
JHAS executive director. "She's an excep-
tional individual: bright, caring and she's
both passionate about her work and com-
passionate about senior adults. And she's
a wonderful representative of the Jewish
community.
"Above all, she's an excellent mentor
to many people — employees, students,
nurses, social workers, the young doctors
who check the residents, and the children
who come in to visit their grandparents.
She was my associate director for 11 years,
and she certainly was my mentor."
That's the other side of Rosenberg, the
serious side. She refers to assisting the
elderly as "promises kept by the Jewish
community over the years to care for frail
older adults with the highest standards
reflecting the art of Jewish caregiving and
Jewish values."
She added: "They used to get only basic
care, but now it's that basic care combined
with very skilled care, very specific to the
individual."
She also good-naturedly calls today's
generation of residents "sort of boring"
compared to many of those who went
through the First_ World War, the Great
Depression and other hardships. "They
were mostly Old World Eastern European
Jews who mainly spoke Yiddish and had a
lot of great stories to tell:' she said.
"It's an entirely different ball game
today. More transitions have occurred in
the past 25 years than in the previous 75.
We now take care of modern Jewish peo-
ple — retired doctors, lawyers, engineers

12

August 16 • 2007

— who require books and computers and
want to learn more, so we have to provide
highly educational classes. But the thing
that has remained constant is their love
for the Jewish religion."
Cindy Schwartz of Huntington Woods,
JHAS immediate past president, believes
Rosenberg is "from a different time — she
has an old soul, as if she has lived 100
lifetimes and she is here to teach us by her
example all that she has learned; she's full
of optimism and is the heart and soul of
JHAS."
Schwartz cited Rosenberg's expertise:
"An innovator and visionary in gerontol-
ogy; an expert in volunteerism, self-moti-
vation, fundraising, marketing and public
relations. Remarkably, she has achieved all
this without formal training in gerontol-
ogy and administration."
As director of JHAS special projects
in 1980, Schwartz gave the untested
Rosenberg a big break when she hired her
as program director for Borman Hall on
Seven Mile Road in Detroit.
"I got a call from David Hermelin
(the late Bingham Farms-based Jewish
philanthropist and U.S. ambassador to
Norway) that the position was open, so
I inquired about it and was hired right
away:' Rosenberg said. "No teaching jobs
were open after I returned to the area
from northern Michigan. I had no training
in this field, so I ran the job like a school
class, with lesson plans and everything. It
was the beginning of a new career."
Rosenberg had lived in Muskegon with
her first husband and found an outlet
for her musical theater talents, acting
and singing on the professional stage of
Muskegon's Michigan Opera Co.
"Mama Rose, the tough stage mother
in Gypsy, was my biggest show, and I

Lifelong Devotion

Born Carol Owens, Rosenberg, 65, was
raised in Detroit's old Dexter-Tuxedo
neighborhood, later attending Winship
Elementary and Mumford. She recalls
often visiting a grandmother who lived
in the old Petoskey Street Home for Aged,
where she learned to love elderly people.
Her father died when she was 8, and she
had to pitch in to help the family.
"I made some extra money when I was
12 running the summer day camp in our
basement and back yard for 20 neighbor-
hood kids:' she said. "Their parents really
trusted me. I even used a form of lesson
plans then.
"We all helped raise my two little
brothers. My mother, who was known
as 'Diamond El; ran a used car lot on
Livernois ... She lived her last years here at
Fleischman. My brothers, Mark and Leon,
are surgeons today."
Rosenberg obtained an elementary edu-
cation degree and then a master's in fine
arts from the University of Michigan.
At Borman Hall, Rosenberg was pro-
moted to assistant director of the home,
mainly handling marketing and commu-
nications. When the Fleischman Residence
was completed in 1990, she took over as
program director, later associate direc-
tor, and assumed the top job in 2005.
Rosenberg lives in Troy with her husband,
David Ellison, a retired educator.
Her children apparently have inherited
some of her genes. Paul Rosenberg is a
New York entertainment lawyer/manager,
handling such rap singers as Eminem, 50
Cent and Obie Trice; Matthew Rosenberg
is a psychotherapist; Amy Rosenberg is an
assistant Michigan attorney general; and
Douglas Ellison is a graphic designer. She
has five grandchildren.
No one can discuss Rosenberg's seri-
ous side without suddenly reverting to
her humorous traits. Eleanor Aronovitz of

Bloomfield Hills, who has known her since
high school, laughs when she recalls the
time Rosenberg forgot to close her car's
sunroof as she went through a car wash.
"She stood up through the open roof and
started yelling for everyone to shut down
the wash:' said Aronovitz. "It was really a
sight.
"But she has great energy, enthusiasm,
kindness and sincerity. Her heart is as big
as she is tall."
Added Schwartz: "Carol is the bandlead-
er and everyone wants to be in her band:'
Rosenberg beams when she talks about
plans for the Opera House celebration.
"We're continuing a journey of 100 years
while raising funds for older Jewish adults
who can't afford to fund their own care.
And I'll make sure we'll all have a lot of
fun in the process." I

Let The Celebration Begin!

The 100th anniversary celebration
of Jewish Home & Aging Services
will begin at 5:30 p.m. Sunday, Sept.
30, at the Detroit Opera House, 1526
Broadway in downtown Detroit.
The program will include dinner by
Paul Kohn's Quality Kosher Catering,
video presentation, the honoring of
Executive Director Carol Rosenberg
and entertainment by local cantors.
Cost is $180 per person.
Under JHAS's Acts of Loving
Kindness Gimelut Chasadim pro-
gram, supporters can buy Mitzvah
Maker packages, ranging from
$1,400 to $36,000, and/or place ads
ranging from $54 to $1,250 in a spe-
cial commemorative journal. Mitzvah
Makers will be honored Sept.18 at
the home of Doreen Hermelin in
Bingham Farms and receive two tick-
ets to the Sept. 30 celebration. For
further information, call Beth Tryon,
(248) 661-2999.
Co-chairpersons of the centen-
nial celebration are Hannah Moss of
Huntington Woods, Pearlena Bodzin
of Southfield, Joel Smith of West
Bloomfield and Howard Tapper of
Bloomfield Hills.