obituaries

Obituaries from page 100

SANDRA ZIPSER, 77, of Oak Park, died
April 10, 2013.
She was born in Newark, N.J.; her
early Jewish education included atten-
dance at a Talmud Torah. After moving
to Los Angeles, she graduated from
UCLA with a degree in early childhood
education and a specialty in teaching
children with special needs. She also
received a Jewish education credential
from the Los Angeles College of Jewish
Studies.
After moving to Detroit in 1965,
Sandra served as a Head Start chairman
in the Ferndale Schools, later substi-
tuting in the Oak Park, Berkley and
Ferndale school districts. Beginning in
1975, she worked as an outreach con-
sultant and auxiliary health worker in
Oakland County, and later as a clerk
in the probate department of Oakland
County. She also worked in the adult
program in Ferndale and with the Jewish
Family Service.
As a Jewish educator, Sandra taught
in the kindergarten and primary grades
of Temple Beth El and Congregation
B'nai Moshe for 25 years. She was active
from 1973 to 2009 with the activities and
annual meetings of the Conference on
Alternative Education. For more than

20 years, she was a program assistant
at the Jewish Community Center for
the Thursday evening Social Group for
the Developmentally Disabled and for a
similar program on Sunday afternoons;
she also assisted as a program planner
and coordinator for the annual Michigan
Sports Hall of Fame Games and for the
Special Olympics.
Mrs. Zipser is survived by her devoted
husband of 54 years, Burton Zipser; sons
and daughters-in-law, Brice and Chiung
Zipser of San Bernardino, Calif., Karl
Zipser of Bridgeport, Pa., Saul and Lisa
Zipser of Livonia, and Neal and Sheryl
Zipser of Apex, N.C.; grandchildren,
Hannah and Joshua.
Contributions may be made to JARC,
to the Jewish Hospice & Chaplaincy
Network or to a charity of one's choice.
Interment was at Beth El Memorial Park,
following the service where Rabbi Dovid
Polter officiated. Arrangements by Ira
Kaufman Chapel.

Correction
• The obituary for Dr. Verne Primack
(April 18) should have indicated that
contributions may be made to MGH
Organ Transplant Unit, 55 Fruit St., 517
Bldg., Boston, MA 02114.

'No. 42' Aided Jews

V

iewers of the film 42 saw how
ers for help, but, they all remained silent —
Jackie Robinson displayed leg-
except for Robinson.
endary courage, class and talent
"I was ashamed to see community lead-
in the face of immense racial hatred as he
ers who were afraid to speak out when
broke down baseball's color barrier.
blacks were guilty of anti-Semitism:'
Less well known is Robinson's role in a
Robinson wrote in his 1972 autobiography,
controversy that erupted
I Never Had It Made. "How
and that underscored his
could we stand against anti-
commitment to fighting all
black prejudice if we were
bigotry, including prejudice
willing to practice or condone
emanating from his own
a similar intolerance?"
community.
During the struggle for civil
It was 1962, just a few
rights, Robinson had witnessed
years after he retired. Day
how Jews laid their bodies on
after day, an angry crowd
the line to aid blacks.
marched outside Harlem's
Never one to back down
legendary Apollo Theater
from a cause he believed
protesting against its Jewish
in, Robinson used his syn-
owner, Frank Schiffman,
dicated newspaper column
and his plan to open a low-
to condemn the protesters'
Jackie Robins on
cost restaurant that poten-
blatant use of anti-Semitism and
tially would threaten the business of a more compared their actions to events that had
expensive black-owned eatery.
occurred in Nazi Germany, drawing the ire
The demonstrators carried anti-Semitic
of many black nationalists in the process.
posters and denounced Schiffman as a
Robinson's appeal, however, won the support
"Shylock" who wanted to extract a pound
of other black leaders, and soon the protests
of flesh from the black community.
ended.
Schiffman turned to several black lead-
- Ami Eden, JTA/Jewish Exponent

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April 25 • 2013

Obituaries

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