business & rofessional

What separates the AFHU
411
Hebrew University Gift Annuity
from all others?

Vision.

Bill and Irene Schumer on Bill's 90th birthday

End Of An Era

Family reflects on legacy
of General Linen.

SENSORY SUBSTITUTION: Professor Amir Amedi of The Hebrew University

of Jerusalem's Edmond and Lily Safra Center for Brain Sciences turns
sound into sight for the blind. See video: www.afhu.org/CGA1

Shannon Mackie

Special to the Jewish News

A secure AFHU Hebrew University
Gift Annuity provides high fixed-rate
lifetime income for you, and propels
discoveries of vast importance for
Israel and the world.

This was certainly the vision of

Albert Einstein, one of the founders

of The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

Einstein imagined a catalyst for

research that would build a nation

and improve the world.

When you create an AFHU Hebrew

University Gift Annuity—with its high

lifetime return, income tax deduction

and tax-free payments—your annuity

works for you, for the vision-impaired

and for all the visionary researchers

whose achievements benefit people

worldwide.

HIGH FIXED-RATE LIFETIME
INCOME FOR YOU. HUGE RETURNS
FOR ISRAEL AND THE WORLD.

AFHU Hebrew University
Gift Annuity Returns

Age

Rate

67

6.2%

7o

6.5%

75
8o

8.o%

7.1%

85

9.5%

90

11.3%

Rates are calculated based on a single life.
Cash contributions produce tax-free annuity income.

CALL OR EMAIL NOW.
THE RETURNS ARE GENEROUS.
THE CAUSE IS PRICELESS.

For information on AFHU Hebrew University
Gift Annuities, please call AFHU Midwest
Region Executive Director, Judith Shenkman at
(12) 329-0332 or email: jshenkman@afhu.org

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

Founded by Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Martin Buber and Chaim Weizmann.
Sustained by you.

AF I HU

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April 18 • 2013

AMERICAN FRIENDS OF
THE HEBREW UNIVERSITY

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Chicago, IL 60611 • 877-642-AFHU (2348)

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A

fter 94 years in the same
family, a mainstay in the
Detroit business commu-
nity has changed hands, spurring the
founders' descendants to reflect on
the company's legacy.
Bill and Irene Schumer ran
General Linen in Detroit for decades
after the death of Bill's father and
company founder, Harry Schumer.
Harry Schumer launched the
business in 1919 after emigrating
from Poland. About three years ago,
Sharon Schwartz, Bill and Irene's
daughter, joined the company, which
was the largest privately owned linen
and uniform rental and hotel service
company in North America.
Although the Schumers worked
well into their 80s, they knew they
were ready to retire and sought out
a buyer for General Linen. Earlier
this year, a long-time employee, John
Dwyer, purchased the linen part of
the business while a national compa-
ny purchased the industrial division
in October.
"I saw an opportunity to build on
a business that I was already famil-
iar with," said Dwyer, who joined
the company nine years ago as CFO
and was later promoted to COO. "I
wanted to help the existing employ-

ees maintain their livelihoods and
their future."
During the Schumers' many
decades at General Linen, the couple
excelled in the business and proved
to be a formidable team.
"My dad is a people person, an
idea person," Schwartz said. "He felt
business was a creative process and
he got a lot out of it. He always had
a pad of paper, ready to jot an idea
down. My parents have always com-
plemented each other; they've always
been very much in tandem."
General Linen was always a fam-
ily business, and the Schumers truly
cared about their employees and
their community. Some of Schwartz's
most vivid childhood memories are
of company picnics, complete with
employees' families, parties in which
management served the workers,
and riding the freight elevator with
her grandfather while he showed her
and her siblings off to his employees.
"We always felt that the employees
and their families were part of our
family," Schwartz said. "My parents
are very family-oriented and civic-
minded. They believe in the dignity
of their workers?'
In addition to the three years she
spent running the business with her
parents, Schwartz, a retired teacher
from Hillel Day School, spent many
summers working at General Linen
as a teenager. Although the company

