7
Metro
Family Legacy
Hadassah House marks its 25th anniversary.
Keri Guten Cohen
Story Development Editor
F
or 25 years, a former West
Bloomfield library building has
been serving quite a different
role. The Sarah and Ralph Davidson
Hadassah House on Orchard Lake Road
has been headquarters to one of the most
active Hadassah sections in the nation.
In fact, the Greater Detroit section of
Hadassah is the only one in the nation
with a permanent home.
The 25th anniversary of Hadassah
House was celebrated Sept. 10 with 90
major donors and supporters at Franklin
Hills Country Club and at a communi-
tywide open house Sept. 14 at Hadassah
House attended by about 100 people.
At both events, gratitude was extended
to the Davidson, Gerson, Wetsman and
Saulson families "as the driving force
behind Hadassah in Detroit, and for hav-
ing the foresight and fortitude to plan
for a permanent home," said Beverly
Fine, current Greater Detroit president.
The families' connection to Hadassah
goes back to 1916, when organization
founder Henrietta Szold spent a week
in the Wetsman home in Detroit. Szold
so inspired Sarah Wetsman that she,
her sister Fannie and friends founded
Detroit's first Hadassah chapter.
Sarah, nicknamed "Sal," married Ralph
Davidson; her sister Fannie married
Morse Saulson.
Sal's children, the late Bill Davidson
and Dorothy Davidson Gerson of
Franklin, were instrumental in procur-
ing the building for the Sarah and Ralph
Davidson Hadassah House, "which is so
named in large part due to Dorothy and
Byron Gerson's generosity and efforts in
tribute to her parents:' said Judy Schram,
immediate past president of Greater
Detroit.
"This family legacy was reaffirmed by
the historic and unprecedented naming
gift of $75 million donated by Bill and
Karen Davidson, on behalf of Guardian
Industries, of Auburn Hills in 2007, for
the Sarah Wetsman Davidson Tower
at Hadassah Hospital" in Jerusalem,
Schram said. Dedication of the 14-story,
state-of-the art in-patient medical
tower is scheduled for 2012, the year of
Hadassah's 100th anniversary.
At both local celebrations, par-
ticipants were treated to a slideshow of
historic photographs accompanied by a
history written by Melba Winer and pre-
sented by Phyllis Newman and Beverly
Apel, all Greater Detroit Hadassah past
presidents. ri
The Davidson/Gerson families: Standing, Ralph Gerson, Gretchen Davidson, Erica Gerson, Maria Karimipour, Cyrus Karimipour,
Karen Davidson, Ethan Davidson. Seated: Byron and Dorothy Gerson
Top: Dorothy Gerson and Judy Schram
Above: Greater Detroit Hadassah past
presidents Phyllis Newman, Melba Winer
and Beverly Apel
Right: Greater Detroit President Beverly
Fine and Eleanor Smith, creator of local
Hadassah's doll project
Far right: Marjorie and Saul Saulson
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September 24 • 2009