M O S

establish the foundation for a compre-
hensive structure to benefit the elderly
in our community. Jewish Senior Life
will provide the same support services,
the same network of professionals, and
the same attention to detail in the same
heimish [homey] atmosphere, all in
order to serve the community with the
same Jewish dedication it has come to
know and expect."
Blechman added later that the
merger was not accomplished to reduce
executive jobs, headcount or services.
"There maybe some efficiencies down
the road, but certainly not now," he said.
In their joint report at the annual
meeting, Kowalsky and Rosenberg cited
Federation's 2005 Jewish Population
Study revealing that a quarter of the
78,000 persons in Jewish households in
Metro Detroit were age 65 or older, with
14 percent of them 75 or older. The
study also described how the Jewish
population will continue to age both
due to the out-migration of younger
adults and the ongoing aging of the
Baby Boomer generation (which began
at the end of World War II).
Alluding to the new JSL, Kowalsky
and Rosenberg said, "while we are lim-
ited in our ability to stem these demo-
graphic tides, we can, as a community,
become better prepared to deal with
these startling trends facing our aging
Jewish population."
Goldsmith Kamin and outgoing JAS
President Laurence Tisdale reminded
attendees, in their joint report, of the
devastating fire at the Hechtman Jewish
Apartments April 9, 2008, that forever
changed JAS and the lives of many in
the community. "It was a time of shock
and sadness, but, also, of unity and
togetherness," they said, "as JAS has
worked around the clock to meet the
needs of displaced residents (everyone
was rescued) while continuing to oper-
ate six other buildings!'
Every speaker at the meeting praised
the "hard work and devotion" of Tisdale
and Kowalsky during months of strategy
sessions and committee meetings, start-
ing in 2006, to bring the JSL to fruition.

"Larry especially had to put up with a
lot of mishegoss [craziness] during his
presidency ... especially the fire and the
merger talks': said Goldsmith Kamin.
Tisdale became emotional in
describing the fire and its aftermath,
but added, "we are maximizing the
insurance proceeds to build a state-of-
the-art new facility that will be ready
for occupancy by the first quarter of
next year at the latest."
Besides Blechman, other officers
installed at the meeting by JAS Past
President Mark Schlussel and JHAS
Past President Marvin Fleischman were
Fleischman's son, Jeffrey Fleischman,
and Nancy Siegel Heinrich, vice presi-
dents; Leo Eisenberg, secretary, and
Mark Davidoff, treasurer. New board
members are: Sandy Muskovitz Danto,
Neil Gorosh, Susan Harold, Mark
Hauser, Lee Hurwitz, Mark Kowalsky,
Lea Luger, Robert Naftaly, Lowell
Salesin, Eli Scherr, Karen Sosnick
Schoenberg, Cindy Schwartz, Laurence
Tisdale and Nathan Upfal. Liaisons
from the Young Adult Division of
the Federation are Jason Hirsch and
Jennifer Kroll.
Schlussel, told he's the oldest living
JAS past president, quipped, "I'm happy
to participate without an asterisk after
my name!' Schlussel, also a Federation
past president, surprised the audience
by revealing he tried to accomplish this
same merger 33 years ago when he was
JAS president in 1976.
"We had some informal discussions,
but ran into philosophical differences
between the two main agencies and
the Federation:' he said later. "Each
of us seemed to have a different mis-
sion. But there's a much bigger need
to make the changes now and form
the new JSL. It will provide more
economies of scale and give us a bet-
ter, broader vision of the needs of the
community's elderly people.
"I'm glad we're moving forward with
Jewish Senior Life of Metropolitan
Detroit."

❑

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