Obituaries
Obituaries from page 75
Farewell, George
David Sachs
Senior Copy Editor
C
olumnist George Cantor was the
poet laureate for a generation
who were raised and educated
in Detroit, who lived and died with the
Tigers, who raised their own families in
the suburbs and who ultimately experi-
enced the blessings and tragedies their
later years held in store.
He chronicled his own thoughts and
experiences, but they were never just
about him. He spoke for all of us.
Legendary journalist George Cantor,
for the past seven years a premier
columnist and editorial writer at the
Detroit Jewish News, died Aug. 13, 2010.
At age 69, the West Bloomfield resident
had succumbed to the metastatic pros-
tate cancer he had fought for over a
decade. During those years, he also suf-
fered from painful Gaucher's disease, a
malady affecting his joints.
"It's been a long struggle; we're just
happy that he's at peace now:' said his
daughter, Jaime Cantor Ben of West
Bloomfield.
"My dad was an honest, witty.and
smart man who was very kind to all,"
she said. "He was such a resource for
the city and for the Jewish community.
He loved being a part of Detroit and
having a fine, full life here
In a eulogy, former Detroit Free Press
colleague Alex Cruden noted his friend's
great power of analysis, his sense of
whimsy and his desire to make life
right that shone through in his writing.
Cruden speculated that each of the hun-
dreds of people present at the funeral
on Aug. 15 had a "George Cantor" story
to tell — a recollection of a favorite col-
umn that hit home and made a lasting
impression.
George's younger
brother Michael, a law-
yer, who spoke next,
offered an example of
how George's memory
will live on in his admir-
ers. Just last week, upon
leaving court, Michael's
opposing counsel pulled
out from his wallet a
plastic-laminated news-
paper clipping contain-
ing the final paragraphs
of a column George
wrote 12 years ago after
his younger daughter
George Cantor
Courtney, a freshman
at the University of
Michigan, was killed in an accidental fall
from her dormitory window.
"In the column, George had written
how important it was to be with your
family, to hug them, to spend as much
time with them as you can and to be
good to them:' Michael said. "The attor-
ney told me that he carries that column
around and views it whenever he needs
to be reminded what the important
things in life are
Early Days
George Cantor grew up in an apartment
at La Salle and Elmhurst in the Dexter-
Linwood area of Detroit. He attended
Roosevelt Elementary, Durfee Middle
School and Mumford High and studied
journalism at Wayne State University,
also in Detroit. Before landing a job on
the Free Press in 1963,
he cut his teeth at
the Flint Journal and
Kalamazoo Gazette.
His mentor at the
Free Press, the longtime
editor and publisher
Neal Shine, spotted
George's writing talent,
his attention to detail
and his love of baseball
and recommended him
for his "dream job" —
baseball beat writer
covering the Tigers.
George traveled with
the team for three sea-
sons, beginning in 1966
and seeing them to the World Series
championship in 1968.
"George was the best baseball writer
that this town has seen," said former
Free Press colleague and longtime friend
Tom DeLisle. "He brought a variety
and newness to his stories. Baseball
stories used to be sort of a grind.
George, instead, would write these really
interesting leads — such as bring-
ing Shakespearian analogies into the
account of last night's ballgame.
"Sometimes, however, we'd get a call
from an angry fan saying, 'I don't care
about Shakespeare — just give me the
damn score!' But George knew baseball
inside and out, and he would include
his vast knowledge of the world into his
sports writing. He had an encyclopedic
mind. For a writer who was creative as
he was, it was a terrific combination.
"The key to George was that he kept
a boyish enthusiasm about everything,
especially baseball," added DeLisle. "He
never gave up his wonder. Every season
was as fresh to him and every game
was as interesting as it would have been
when he was 10 years old."
Renaissance Man
George's interests, however, surpassed
baseball. In 1969, he became travel edi-
tor of the Free Press, another "dream
job." Over the years, George went on to
write more than 30 books — about a
dozen involving travel and a half dozen
on the Tigers, including accounts of the
'68 and '84 championship teams. Other
varied topics included Confederate
generals, bad guys in American history
and where to go gamble. Last year, he
won an award for a book he wrote about
Cleveland and Cincinnati pro football
icon Paul Brown.
And that's just scratching the surface.
George was quite the Renaissance man,
noted his brother. The great-grandson
of a Lithuanian cantor, George had an
Beyond The Writing
G
eorge
Cantor
gained
fame as
a writer,
but he was
more than a
journalist and
an author.
It was his
curiosity
George Cantor
about people
in all their absurdity and grandeur
that inspired his prose and cemented
his connection with readers.
I had followed and deeply admired
George's work at the Detroit Free
Press and the Detroit News since
76
August 19 • 2010
JN
my days as editor of the student
newspaper at Henry Ford High
School in Detroit. In many ways, his
inquisitive demeanor, compelling
reporting and graceful writing
provided a model for my professional
future to come.
He wrote with verve and elegance
in his news stories and his many
books. He was the rare writer who
understood the effectiveness of
a conversational style in keeping
readers interested and informed. He
was equally articulate on radio and
television, dissecting Detroit and
other headlines.
Fittingly, he once told me his finest
writing came together in Courtney's
Obituaries •
Legacy: A Father's Journey, his book
about his daughter Courtney's tragic
death while she was a freshman at
the University of Michigan.
George carried his gift for
communicating beyond the newspaper
page and the airwaves. He also enjoyed
a good, cracker barrel-style debate
about pressing issues of the day.
At the same time, George reached
out with gusto in support of others,
whether leading a shivah minyan,
guiding a bus tour of Jewish Detroit
or coaching an aspiring journalist.
When George left the Detroit News
in 2003, it took a matter of minutes
for me to decide to offer him a
writing opportunity as a columnist,
editorial writer and feature writer
with the Jewish News. I knew he was
a popular and gifted writer; but more
importantly, I knew he felt the pulse
of the Detroit Jewish community and
would file stories and commentary
that were significant, incisive and
heartfelt.
I want George's wife, Sherry, his
daughter and son-in-law, Jaime and
Michael Ben; his mother, Evelyn;
and the rest of the Cantor-Bershad-
Ben family to know that the JN was
made richer through our seven-
year association with this giant of a
journalist and superlative mentsh.
❑
– Robert Sklar, editor