Joseph Vlasic,
Albert Dubin,
Walter Tomacic
and Robert Vlasic,
circa 1950s

drugstore. In the meantime, Joe began a
creamery in Detroit that eventually grew
to be the state's largest wholesale milk
distributorship for the Borden Company.
As the company grew, it added hams,
horseradish and pickles for the city's
Polish community.
However, with pickle crops in short
supply during World War II, Joe started
testing an innovative idea: packing
pickles in glass jars. In 1942, the Vlasic
Pickle brand was born. Albert Dubin
would spend his entire life working with
the family, using his accounting educa-
tion along with his talents and moxie to
become chief financial officer and later
president of Vlasic Foods.

Amazing Life Story

Albert Dubin's entrepreneurial spirit lives on
at Federation's Oral History Archives.

Vivian Henoch
Special to the Jewish News

D

that he would send for them as soon as he
was able to earn enough for their passage.
World War I dashed those plans.
In the midst of war, famine and
pogroms in Russia, Albert and his mother
were left to fend for themselves, living
hand to mouth, a life on the run. As a
young child, Albert was separated from
his mother for a period of two years. To
survive, he foraged for food, slept in barns
and worked odd jobs for good-hearted
farmers who helped Jewish families.
By fate — or miracle — Albert was
reunited with his mother through a Jewish
shelter facility in Kiev, and together they
were finally able to join Albert's father in
Detroit in 1923.

id you know the pickle industry
has its roots in Jewish Detroit?
For Albert Dubin, who recently
reached his 100th birthday, it's been a long
winding road from Russia to America and
to the pickle fields that were to enrich his
life.
Describing his father, Howard Dubin
remarks that Albert never spoke of his early
life until he was well into his 80s. It was
his story that so moved the Dubin fam-
ily that they chose to honor his legacy by
creating the Albert & Pauline Dubin Oral
History Archives at the Jewish Federation of
Metropolitan Detroit.
An American Boy
"My father embodies that
With virtually no formal edu-
bold American entrepreneurial
spirit:' Howard says. "His life is
cation and speaking not a word
of English, Albert was enrolled
an affirmation that the greater
the odds against success, the
in Detroit Public Schools. An
harder a man with a dream will
eager and able student, he
strive and take calculated risks:'
quickly caught up with his
Born in the village of
classmates. In order to help
Ignatanka near Kiev, Albert
support his family — and with
Albert D ubin
was only 2 months old when
a strong work ethic already
his father, the village blacksmith, heard
deeply rooted in his character — Albert
from his cousin in Detroit that the streets
took on numerous jobs, including sell-
in America were paved with gold. Seeking
ing newspapers and setting up pins in a
bowling alley, all the while excelling at
his fortune, Albert's father left his young
wife and child in 1913 with the promise
Central High School, where he also

14 July 11 • 2013

Albert and Pauline Dubin

earned varsity letters in track and field.
While still in high school, Albert
arranged his schedule to take a full-time
job at a drugstore owned by another
immigrant named Joe Vlasic. As Albert
describes in a narrative he wrote for his
family, "Joe was my mentor, adviser and
acting father. Joe was a true entrepre-
neur; he was a solid businessman, very
reliable. In my eyes, he was a genius
eight feet tall ... My decision to grow
with Vlasic was the crowning decision of
my life:'
Joe Vlasic took a liking to this hard-
working, enterprising young man who
attended college in accounting at night,
all the while working full-time in the

Giving Back

Albert partnered with Joseph Vlasic and
his family every step of the way in their
business for 50 years, until they sold Vlasic
Foods to Campbell Soup Company in
1978. Albert Dubin's rise from a young boy
on the streets of Russia to the president
of a national food manufacturing and dis-
tributing company is exceptional in and of
itself, but there is more to the story. Albert
Dubin never forgot his humble start in life
and the community in which he grew and
prospered.
With the establishment of the Albert
& Pauline Dubin Oral History Archives
at the Jewish Federation, Albert Dubin
and his family continue to express — in
perpetuity — their support and grati-
tude to the Detroit Jewish community in
which the Dubin family has played an
important role for three generations.
Currently, the Oral Archives includes
audio and video interviews with more
than 100 leaders of the Detroit Jewish
community. The funds generated by the
Albert & Pauline Dubin Oral History
Archives endowment will allow the com-
munity to capture life stories of impor-
tance for generations to come.
The establishment of the endow-
ment by Albert and Pauline's children
upon Albert's 100th birthday means
that his story and those of others can be
celebrated now and forever told to the
Jewish community.
For information on helping to build the
endowment, contact Sharon Alterman at
salterman@jfmd.org or call (248) 203-
1491.

❑

Vivian Henoch is online editor/writer for

myjewishdetroit.org, where this story first

appeared.

