obituaries
Obituaries from page 52
PHYLLIS YOUNG,
84, of West
Bloomfield, died
March 11, 2014.
She is survived
by her sons and
daughters-in-law,
Dr. Eric and Martha
Young
Young of Ann Arbor,
Dr. Joel and Mindy
Young of West Bloomfield; daughter
and son-in-law, Marla and David
Giwerc of Slingerlands, N.Y.; sister,
Esther Mayer of Southfield; grandchil-
dren, Rebecca (Ben) Krakauer, Julia
Young, Samuel Young, Daniel Giwerc,
Michelle Giwerc, Benjamin Young,
Kathryn Young, Emily Young; many
other loving family members and
friends.
Mrs. Young was the beloved wife of
the late Dr. David J. Young.
Contributions may be made to
Congregation Beth Shalom or the
Michigan Parkinson Foundation.
Interment took place at the Adat
Shalom Memorial Park Cemetery in
Livonia. Arrangements by Dorfman
Chapel.
U.S. Envoy To Israel
Washington/JTA
S
amuel Lewis, an influential U.S.
ambassador to Israel who helped
broker the Camp David peace
agreement, has died.
Lewis, a career
diplomat, died
March 10, 2014, at
age 83.
He was ambas-
sador to Israel from
1977-1985, a peri-
od during which
Israel and Egypt
achieved a peace
agreement bro-
Samuel Lewis
kered by President
Jimmy Carter.
Lewis, who was not Jewish, was so
deeply involved in the day-to-day back and
forth between Israel and the United States
and was so curious about Israeli and Jewish
culture that Ezer Weizman, who was then
Israel's defense minister and a lead negotia-
tor, nicknamed him "Shmuel Levi:'
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March 20 • 2014
Obituaries
Lewis played a key role in calming
recurring tensions between President
Reagan and Israeli Prime Minister
Menachem Begin, first in 1981 when
Israeli planes destroyed a nuclear reactor
in Iraq, and in 1982, when Israel invaded
Lebanon.
Some Israeli right-wingers who
resented the influence he wielded as U.S.
ambassador dubbed him the "high com-
missioner;' a derisive reference to the pre-
independence British rulers of Mandate
Palestine.
The Israeli political establishment,
however, appreciated his avuncular style,
his civility and his interest in the country;
when he retired in 1985, the government
dedicated a forest in his name.
"He performed miracles in terms of
interpreting America to Israel and Israel
to America, often absorbing the brunt of
criticism for his efforts:' said a statement
from the Washington Institute for Near
East Policy, a think tank he advised since
its founding in the late 1980s.
His involvement in the peace process
led to a long retirement career studying
and analyzing peace issues, first by lead-
ing the congressionally mandated U.S.
Institute for Peace from 1987-1992 and
then as a founding member of the Israel
Policy Forum, a group set up in the early
1990s to back Clinton-era peace efforts.
In a 2011 interview with Haaretz,
Lewis admitted he had made two
"tactical mistakes" during his time as
ambassador — namely, "believing the
Palestinians could eventually accept a
final agreement for two states, which
did not include at least an equivalent
amount of land to that which Israel
occupied in 1967," and "clinging for a
long time to the optimistic judgment
that a U.S. president could overcome
— by enough persuasion and persistent
`nudging' — Israel's political complexi-
ties, Holocaust memories and security
obsessions without first having a prime
minister determined to lead the Israeli
people to take risks for peace."
❑
Times of Israel contributed to this report.