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Eden, Alexandra, Jeff,
A
Heartfelt
Sherry and Jordan Zaslow
on vacation in Costa Rica.
Life
Family and friends
mourn the loss of
an inspiring writer
and a true mentsh.
In his eulogy, Rabbi Krakoff compared
composer Franz Schubert's acclaimed
"Unfinished Symphony" to Mr. Zaslow's
"unfinished life:' Several family members
and friends also spoke, among them,
the three Zaslow daughters: Jordan, 22;
Alexandra, 20, and Eden, 16; his mother,
Naomi Zaslow; and Capt. Chesley "Sully"
Sullenberger, the hero airline pilot who
was the subject of one of Mr. Zaslow's
best-selling books.
A native of the Philadelphia suburb of
Broomall, born in 1958, Mr. Zaslow and
his family belonged to Beth El Suburban
Synagogue. Lisa Zaslow Segelman said at
the service that she always idolized her
older brother who would come home and
"tell me everything he learned about kin-
dergarten that day"
Mr. Zaslow was a writer from the start.
He dictated his first story at age 6, had
his first poem published at 9 and won
$500 in a poetry contest when he was 12.
After high school, he majored in creative
writing at Carnegie Mellon University in
Pittsburgh.
Following his 1980 graduation, Mr.
Zaslow's.first professional job was at the
Orlando Sentinel in Florida. A colleague
there introduced him to a friend, Sherry
Margolis, a Buffalo native. No sparks hap-
pened, she said, until they met three years
later at the same friend's wedding. Mr.
Zaslow was by then a Chicago-based col-
umnist for The Wall Street Journal; she was
working as a broadcaster in Detroit.
"As soon as we saw each other the
night before the wedding, it was like the
universe had shifted:' Margolis said. "We
danced and were together at the wedding,.
and then had a commuter relationship
for two years until we got married in my
hometown of Buffalo 24 years ago on the
Fourth of July"
Margolis said the couple's song was
8
February 16 .3 2012
the romantic "Drive All Night" by Bruce
Springsteen, Mr. Zaslow's favorite per-
forming artist, and that inscription is on
her wedding band.
The whole family became fans because
Springsteen is "a fine, fine person with a
lot of integrity — as was Jeff' Margolis
said. Springsteen's books, albums and
memorabilia are all around their house.
Jordan Zaslow said her father started a
Saturday morning conga line with "the
five of us bopping around the room to
Springsteen tunes." If her husband had
lived, Margolis said they hoped to visit
Paris for their 25th wedding anniver-
sary — and take in their first overseas
Springsteen concert.
He probably would have wanted to bring
their daughters, too, she said, because they
were close and Dad was their hero. The
girls and Margolis knew they were always
in his thoughts, even when far apart.
Jordan lives in Los Angeles and
Alexandra came in for the funeral from
Amsterdam during her second term abroad
from Indiana University. Eden is a junior at
West Bloomfield High. In their eulogies, the
girls said they take comfort remembering
that "I love you" concluded every conversa-
tion and email between them.
"Go home and hug your children and
your spouse Zaslow advised everyone.
Alexandra Zaslow recalled good times
with her dad on vacations to see family
members in Florida and at the New Jersey
shore. She and her dad would ride their
bikes on the boardwalk in Atlantic City "We
could sit and talk for hours, and he cared
about whatever I had to say:' Alex said.
Aiding Jewish Causes
"Jeff was such a mentsh and just loved
people," said Margolis, who didn't mind
sharing him with the world. "He had the
biggest heart of anyone I've ever known."
She said she couldn't keep track of all the
appearances her husband made in Metro
Detroit and elsewhere on behalf of Jewish
and other organizations, and to promote
his books.
"He never knew the word `no:" agreed
Peter Perlman, a former Great Lakes
Region of B'nai B'rith president. At
Perlman's invitation, Mr. Zaslow served
several times as master of ceremonies
for the organization's Great American
Traditions Award dinner, and was to have
hosted again in March.
Last Nov. 6, Mr. Zaslow volunteered
to be emcee at the annual fundraising
brunch of the Sky Foundation Inc., a
charity to raise awareness and develop
an early diagnosis for pancreatic cancer
founded by Sheila Sky Kasselman of West
Bloomfield. To aid the cause, he auctioned
off a rare copy of The Last Lecture, the
inspiring story of Professor Randy Pausch,
who stayed positive while facing terminal
pancreatic cancer — signed by the late
professor.
Perlman recalled Mr. Zaslow's sensitiv-
ity at the book signing line that followed
one of his talks at the JCC Jewish Book
Fair. He wouldn't just sign his name.
Instead, "Jeff extended his hand to every-
one and would say, 'Tell me something
about you and then he'd write something
personal about the person in the inscrip-
tion:'
That was typical Jeff Zaslow. "He was
always trying to find out how people tick:'
said Detroit News columnist Neal Rubin,
another Zaslow friend.
A story that Jewish News Contributing
Editor Robert Sklar recalled about Mr.
Zaslow's kindness had to do with young
Andy Berman of Farmington Hills. Andy,
now 14, was 12 when he met Mr. Zaslow at
the birthday party of a family friend.
Andy recalled, "Jeff was really funny and
nice and said I was the youngest person
who had ever told him they had read his
book The Last Lecture."
At the time, Andy was preparing for
his 2010 bar mitzvah at the Birmingham
Temple in Farmington Hills and needed
to give a talk about a hero. Inspired by Mr.
Zaslow, he decided to share the story of
Randy Pausch and The Last Lecture.
"Mr. Zaslow shared hours of his time
answering my questions and gave me
the inside scoop by showing me a scrap-
book he made about the writing of The
Last Lecture," Andy said. Mr. Zaslow
had an out-of-town commitment and
couldn't attend his new friend's big day,
but instead, the author gave a talk at the
Birmingham Temple in Andy's honor soon
after the bar mitzvah.
Noted Sklar, "Jeff achieved world fame
but never forgot that what truly matters
in life can sometimes be nothing more
than taking a curious, active interest in an
engaging boy with a mission of his own'
A Unique Storyteller
Creative writing, but not especially fic-
tion, is what Mr. Zaslow always loved. "He
didn't follow the money — only the story:'
said his mother, Naomi Zaslow of New
Jersey. She called Jeff "the child of my soul;
because of his compassion for others." He
showed this through his actions as well as
his writing.
As Margolis' colleague, news anchor
Huel Perkins, noted Friday in his teary on-
air announcement of Mr. Zaslow's death:
"The words you would write would touch
our hearts."
Margolis said her husband "told his sto-
ries as though he was sharing them with -
you in your living room." And sometimes
homes were where he got ideas for stories.
After his selection to succeed Ann
Landers at the Chicago Sun-Times, Mr.